The battle for CHP privacy is ON!

Agent19 said:

I've had similar discussions with CHP holders in my area.

I have no dog in this fight as I don't have a VA CHP but this nonsense really needs to stop.
Our legislator's need to have this nonsense stopped now!

Find and contact your elected offical.
http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform

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Well....if you really want to get the ball rolling,
We could do a survey on the number of Va Legislators and family who have CHP's

Publish that information ....but just because we're better than they are, leave the address blank.
Since they're public figures, it would be legal. It might be interesting to see whose wife has a CHP.

The Va Watchdog did that with SSN's, the GA passed a law against her doing it, she sued and won in the Supreme Court and SSN's are now protected information.

I call the Stafford listed phone posted above and complained and they referred me to their main publisher in Manassas "News and Messenger" that phone number is 703.368.3101. When I talked to their manager he stated as long as it remain public information he he an obligation to publish it.

streetdoc said:

I call the Stafford listed phone posted above and complained and they referred me to their main publisher in Manassas "News and Messenger" that phone number is 703.368.3101. When I talked to their manager he stated as long as it remain public information he he an obligation to publish it.

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Well that's just an outright lie. How can you have an intelligent conversation with someone like that?

TFred

Thanks peter nap and TFred for the clarification on this. The idea of publishing the same information of legislators on the surface seems like a great idea, but I bet most all of the ones who have CHP's are on our side and I wouldn't want to ruffle the feathers of our supporters. I would be much more prone to going after the editors, publishers, and advertisers of the news agencies who printed this private (public??) information. How about publishing their names and addresses as they appear in the public records of real estate documents. Those are public and therefore open to presentation aren't they? Perhaps something might turn up that is a skeleton in one of their closets.

How about publishing their names and addresses as they appear in the public records of real estate documents. Those are public and therefore open to presentation aren't they?

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Not only that, but according to the publisher, he has an obligation to print them!

The question nobody can answer is this: Why are some licenses granted by the state public information, and other licenses granted by the state protected?

Try calling up your favorite friendly police station and telling them that you would like to know who owns the car with a certain license plate number. They'll probably not even bother to laugh at you as they hang up the phone.

TFred

SouthernBoy said:

Thanks peter nap and TFred for the clarification on this. The idea of publishing the same information of legislators on the surface seems like a great idea, but I bet most all of the ones who have CHP's are on our side and I wouldn't want to ruffle the feathers of our supporters. I would be much more prone to going after the editors, publishers, and advertisers of the news agencies who printed this private (public??) information. How about publishing their names and addresses as they appear in the public records of real estate documents. Those are public and therefore open to presentation aren't they? Perhaps something might turn up that is a skeleton in one of their closets.

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Even if it doesn't reveal a skeleton or two, I'm sure they wouldn't be happy about it. I'm sure some of them have PO Boxes simply to try and preserve their privacy.

I still fail to comprehend the 'good' they think they're doing by publishing this information.

Riana said:

I still fail to comprehend the 'good' they think they're doing by publishing this information.

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[soapbox] the 'good' the antis see is in the misguided, biased, seeming moral imperative that they have against anyone, except the criminal element, from possessing firearms. i guess they feel there will be a social stigma upon us if they 'out' us. the potential peril they put people into, not to mention the possibility of firearm theft, doesn't even factor in! [/soapbox]

there's a lot of dumb in the world, and unfortunately, i don't think there's any cure for it.

CHILINVLN said:

^ I understand your frustration and concern, but that response is really less than professional and full of personal anger. If I received that, I would ignore it and move on. I think you would be more successful by taking a more tactful and professional approach.

Just my two cents.

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I disagree.

How about this?

---------
Tracy Bell
Managing Editor
Stafford County Sun

Re: Stafford County Sun, a Media General Newspaper, printing a list of approximately 100 names of Stafford County residents who received a CHP during the month of September 2011. (Page 3 of the November 11-17 edition.)

Printing such a listing might cause a battered spouse, hiding out from an abusive husband, with only a self-defense pistol to protect her, to be found due to their listing and harm come to them.

Your paper really should consider what you'd say to her surviving children.

How would you feel if CRIMINALS used your list to go to those person's houses and steal their guns and use them to murder someone? You're telling CRIMINALS where the guns are, unprotected in some cases (unlike a Gun shop with alarms and special storage safes).

I'm just glad I don't live in Stafford where the managing board of the paper allows IRRESPONSIBLE journalistic practices like yours. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Forgive my passionate scolding, but the reason for CHPs aren't for cowboys, it's for your grandmother who lost her husband and lives alone, it's for battered women whom the cops are too slow to protect, it's for the disabled who are at the mercy of anyone who might unfairly aggress against them. Don't make theses people, who were thoughtful enough to get a permit and be law abiding suffer.

(optional)
Further, ask yourself what possible good cause could come from outing people. What if someone dug through your garbage cans (figuratively) and posted personal information about you? What if they published your home address, your PO box, your personal email? Maybe you should post that to show outing people is harmless?

B. Johnson
Spotsylvania

Riana said:

I still fail to comprehend the 'good' they think they're doing by publishing this information.

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Me, too.

I have a bit of a chauvinistic hypothesis that explains some of it.

First, I think people like to think of themselves as 'All that and a bag of chips'. If they see someone with a bigger/better car/house/situation, they are jealous, but can't admit it. So they use 'cognitive dissonance' and think the person has no right or reason to be 'better'. If you have/carry a firearm you are 'better' (in their mind) which then gets converted to 'you think you're better well, I'LL SHOW YOU, Mr conceal stuff from me, I'll print your name in the paper'.

It's sort of a female thing, sizing people up. LEOs, OTOH, have a male thing of 'I've got bigger testosterone than you. If you're carrying a handgun you negate that...so I don't like it/want it'.

NOBODY seems to think the real reason handguns and CHPs are there for. It's to PREVENT people from being able to aggress against and threaten weaker people who HAVE NO OPTIONS. People on canes and in wheelchairs, grandmoms, CAN'T run away, can't really fight back very well.

Listen, you DUMBARSE antis, IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU. (heh, think of the grandmothers cowering in the back of the 7-11 - like they say think of the children).

Well, looks like I know what my first constituent email to Senator-Elect Bryce Reeves will be about, (he also just happens to LIVE in Spotsylvania county.) :banana:

Gonna fix THEIR little raspberry-beret-wearing *****.

B. Reddy said:

Well, looks like I know what my first constituent email to Senator-Elect Bryce Reeves will be about, (he also just happens to LIVE in Spotsylvania county.) :banana:

Gonna fix THEIR little raspberry-beret-wearing *****.

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I need to look that address up myself, unless you have it handy and want to save me the time.

TFred

That's a good angle: What good can possibly come from publishing this data? None. It is nothing but an attack on opposition, and serves no positive use to the community no matter what side of the gun fence they are on. It is an absolute perversion.

streetdoc said:

I call the Stafford listed phone posted above and complained and they referred me to their main publisher in Manassas "News and Messenger" that phone number is 703.368.3101. When I talked to their manager he stated as long as it remain public information he he an obligation to publish it.

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So I guess that means they're also publishing the names of every person charged with a traffic ticket as well? How about people who've been involved in real estate transactions? People who've filed wills for safekeeping in the Circuit Court? Fictitious name registrations? Marriage licenses issued? That must be one thick newspaper.

peter nap said:

Well....if you really want to get the ball rolling,
We could do a survey on the number of Va Legislators and family who have CHP's

Publish that information ....but just because we're better than they are, leave the address blank.
Since they're public figures, it would be legal. It might be interesting to see whose wife has a CHP.

The Va Watchdog did that with SSN's, the GA passed a law against her doing it, she sued and won in the Supreme Court and SSN's are now protected information.

Click to expand...

Or, if we can get the names of the people working at that newspaper who've had any hand in this, we could look up their legal histories (crimes, traffic tickets, and civil suits) in every jurisdiction they live in or are likely to travel through on a regular basis, and publish that information on a certain videographer's journalistic website.

Oh, and btw, P.N., I'm from North of Ashland - Some of us up here are still trying to defend the borders of the civilized world; right, Southernboy?

ixtow said:

That's a good angle: What good can possibly come from publishing this data? None. It is nothing but an attack on opposition, and serves no positive use to the community no matter what side of the gun fence they are on. It is an absolute perversion.

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user said:

Or, if we can get the names of the people working at that newspaper who've had any hand in this, we could look up their legal histories (crimes, traffic tickets, and civil suits) in every jurisdiction they live in or are likely to travel through on a regular basis, and publish that information on a certain videographer's journalistic website.

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Unfortunately, there is no good angle with regard to these folks. They are true believers in an unjust cause. They believe that they are exposing the "bad gun people", as if we were pedophiles, and if they keep doing it, then maybe some of the bad gun people will go away, and choose to not be bad gun people. There is no logic to their action, and anything we might do that would illustrate this publicly would certainly be perceived as persecution, which would strengthen their posture. Remember, they literally think we are criminals and evil people, just for owning guns.

The only solution to this is to shut down their source, and make it a crime to publish this information. Even with a tied-plus-one Senate, that's going to be a very tall order. It will take every ounce of lobbying effort that every group and individual person can bring to bear.

TFred

Pocketbook politics

IMO, the best suggestion that I have heard is to write/contact the major advertisers of this paper and tell them (politely & professionally) why you will NOT be doing business with them. The present policy of the newspaper to harass their potential customers and put honest citizen's at risk is unacceptable.

Definitely something that needs to be fixed at the GA level and this is on VCDL's list.

user said:

Or, if we can get the names of the people working at that newspaper who've had any hand in this, we could look up their legal histories (crimes, traffic tickets, and civil suits) in every jurisdiction they live in or are likely to travel through on a regular basis, and publish that information on a certain videographer's journalistic website.

Oh, and btw, P.N., I'm from North of Ashland - Some of us up here are still trying to defend the borders of the civilized world; right, Southernboy?

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Amen to that. Preserving what it means to be a Virginian ranks very high among the faithful.

Grapeshot said:

IMO, the best suggestion that I have heard is to write/contact the major advertisers of this paper and tell them (politely & professionally) why you will NOT be doing business with them. The present policy of the newspaper to harass their potential customers and put honest citizen's at risk is unacceptable.

Definitely something that needs to be fixed at the GA level and this is on VCDL's list.

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I say the one turn deserves another approach is the best... So nyah.

Publish all their data. Get a Private Eye on it, publish their daily routines, habits....