Newspaper Chain Wants to Build Database of Gun Owners

Heather Ginsberg | January 25, 2014 6:14 PM

UPDATE:The CEO of Civitas Media released a statement about this new concern. The statement reads:

Civitas Media never had any plans or intentions of publishing in print or online lists of holders of “conceal and carry” permits. Nor will Civitas Media develop databases of permit holders. A poorly crafted internal memo meant to highlight editorial discussions and planning incorrectly indicated that such a database was being planned; it has been considered and rejected.

Obviously history repeats itself when people don’t pay attention to it. After the shooting at Sandy Hook, newspapers began to print the names and addresses of the gun permit owners in various areas. Eventually they were pressured enough to apologize and remove those names. But not surprisingly the liberal media has forgotten about that and another newspaper is going to give it a try.

Civitas Media, which owns 88 newspapers in 12 states and has more than 100 total publications, is planning on building a database of people who have concealed carry permits. The plan is to build a list state-by-state and make that information available to the public.

Civitas director of content Jim Lawitz emailed content directors, managers, and producers in a January 19 email, saying that exploring the “explosion” of conceal and carry permits in the U.S. will be one of the company’s short-term objectives.

“We are launching two enterprise projects across our newsrooms this month. The first will deal with the creeping influence of heroin in our communities. The deadly drug has quietly taken over, reaching across all age groups and eclipsing meth as the recreational drug of choice,” Lawitz began.

“The second project examines the explosion of ‘conceal and carry’ gun permits across the U.S. Through public records act requests, we will attempt to build state-by-state databases that list those who have the right to carry a concealed weapon,” Lawitz wrote in the email.

What’s still confusing is why they want to do this? These are law abiding citizens, choosing to use their second amendment rights and carry a concealed firearm. Just because there are people who need mental help to cut down on the number of violent gun crimes, does not mean that guns need to go as well. I am sure this news agency will see quite the backlash from these choices.