Newspaper Publishes Gun Owners’ Names and Addresses

[LooseWilly]

214. So you are arguing that requested public information should not be shared with fellow citizens?

The difficulty in acquiring and looking up the information is somehow a feature of said information's public-ness?... and to make public information easily accessible is, somehow, a violation of the implicit pain-in-the-ass quality of Public Records... and therefore... an... invasion of public-ish-privacy?

Is that really your position on public records? They should, maybe, only be released once a non-disclosure agreement has been signed?

Do you also think that, once said public information is received, citizens should be barred from being legally allowed to discuss it?

Maybe we should all be allowed to examine the information, but barred from acknowledging it, in order to respect the "rights" of those we know something about?

Maybe the same should apply to all the "dirt" we get on celebrities from the tabloids?... We should be able to know about it but discussing it should be prosecutable as an invasion of privacy?

You do realize these are the ramifications of the notion that making public information more easily accessible is somehow a crime, right?

In point of fact however... the difficulties of acquiring Public Records information is simply a hassle that everyone acknowledges as a logistical reality/inevitability. Efforts to make said information more easily accessible are made regularly and are expected of all public institutions generally. It is a good thing, not a bad thing, to make public records more accessible- in terms of the spirit of Public Records regulation generally.

And as for my real name and address, check my profile and you should be able to find it quite easily. Even more easily than if you were required to make a public records request...