GunsMore states move to restrict access to personal information of gun holders

Last week the state of New York limited public access to gun-license information as Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law giving permit holders the ability to request that their identifying information remain private.

The measure came less than a month after a local newspaper published an interactive map providing the names and addresses of permit owners in Rockland and Westchester counties. The move prompted a backlash against the newspaper and its employees and the  paper temporarily hired armed security.

USA Today reports that the same has happened in other states, when the media outlets have tried to acquire public information on gun owners. It appears that restricting this information is becoming, as evidenced by measures taken in Illinois, Oregon, and Alabama.

In 2011 Illinois passed a law exempting the names as well as other personal information of people who have a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card or have applied for one. The move was made after the Associated Press sought the names of 1.3 million people registered to own firearms in the state.

Last year, Oregon passed a law that prohibits the exposure of records or information which reveals current or former holders of concealed-gun permits or applicants to carry concealed weapons. Exceptions to the law include a news media request on whether someone convicted of a crime against a person, or someone convicted of a crime involving the use or possession of a firearm, holds a concealed-handgun license.

USA Todaynotes that Alabama passed a law in 2009 which prohibits the release of the names, addresses, or signatures of concealed-handgun license holders or applicants, unless a licensee is charged with a felony involving a handgun.

“In recent years, I do think more and more states have made these records confidential,” Laura Cutilletta, senior staff attorney for theLaw Center to Prevent Gun Violence in San Francisco told USA Today. “We think they should be open because they’re public records, and just like other public records, the public has a right to have access to them.”

Currently, thirty-five states do not provide access to information on people who have gun licenses, except to law enforcement. Arkansas, California, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia do provide access. Vermont does not issue permits.

In Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook elementary mass shooting took place, GovernorDannel Malloy recently submitted a bill to the legislature which would reopen permit records to the public. In 1994, the legislature and governor exempted gun permits from public disclosure.

Mallloy said he proposed the bill to get people talking about what changes Connecticut should make as a result of the Sandy Hook mass shooting, but his idea has been greeted with angry phone calls and e-mails.

“When I put it in, what I was trying to point out was there is all this new technology out there and a lot of stuff is already public,” Malloy told USA Today, such as divorce proceedings, fishing licenses and property ownership.