With respect to the upcoming changes to 18.2-308 then, it seems we have a question with two possible answers.
The code was changed in essence like this:
From: The clerk of court may withhold from public disclosure the social security number contained in a permit application in response to a request to inspect or copy any such permit application
To: The clerk of court shall withhold from public disclosure the applicant's name and any other information contained in a permit application or any order issuing a concealed handgun permit
Question: Who is owner of the information contained in the on-line case database?
Answer 1: The on-line case files are considered to be a part of each Circuit Court clerk's responsibility to populate and keep correct.
Answer 2: The on-line case files are considered to be a part of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
If Answer 1 is correct, it would seem that the case records that reveal the name of the permit holder will need to be hidden from public view on July 1st.
If Answer 2 is correct, then it would seem we are going to need still more legislation to fix this issue.
Note: The direction to "withhold from public disclosure" does not specifically address only new applications, it covers "a permit application". A permit application submitted prior to July 1st is still "a permit application."
It seems pretty clear to me that this direction to leave the pre-July 1st applications on-line is nothing more than the easiest way out to a problem with a database not designed to hold private information. From what I can read, it does not appear to be the
legal solution.
TFred