Newspaper Publishes Gun Owners’ Names and Addresses

[1monster]

216. Where I live, the birth announcements are up to the parents. If they want the birth published,

Last edited Tue Dec 25, 2012, 05:39 PM - Edit history (1)

the parents have to send the announcement to the paper (the hospital provideds the form). Deaths, unless the person was a public figure, or the nature of the death is newsworthy, are also up to the family to request either a death notice (free) or an obituary (for a fee) notice. Addresses are extremely rare in the obits/death notices, are supplied by the family of the deceased, and NEVER appear in the birth announcements.

Each week the newspaper prints a list (in a very small font) of the names ONLY of those who have purchased a marriage license and another of the names ONLY of those who have received their divorce decrees. No addresses or other information is published. Address are not included.

Wedding/engagement annoucements in the paper, like birth announcements, are at the behest of the families of those celebrating the events. Addresses are limited to the city the couple will be living in and that information is given only at the behest of the family/bride/groom.

The addresses of murder victims are not published, as a general rule, except when the address is material to the news story.

All of the examples you cited as public information are of those who status has changed (or begun). Often, those status changes do have relevancy to the public.

In the case of the gun owners whose names and addresses were published w/o their knowledge, no change in status was noted.

Had it been the practice to publish this information in the past, at least the registered gun owners would have known that their names and addresses were going to be put out for all to see. They were blindsided.

And that is not right.