What A Cocksucker

Some assclown columnist with an agenda, in unholy cooperation with the publisher of the Roanoke Times, decided it would be a good idea to illustrate the wonders of Freedom Of Information laws by putting the names and home addresses of all the holders of concealed carry permits in a database on the paper's website. The information was removed the very next day amid a shit-storm of critcism.

It all started with this editorial in the Roanoke Times about Freedom Of Information laws. The snark factor was pretty high.

This is not about being for or against guns. There are plenty of reasons people choose to carry weapons: fear of a violent ex-lover, concern about criminals or worry that the king of England might try to get into your house. There are plenty of reasons to question the wisdom of widespread gun ownership, too.

But that's a debate for another time.

And:

A state that eagerly puts sex offender data online complete with an interactive map could easily do the same with gun permits, but it does not.

The article then provided a link to a searchable database of every person in the state of Virginia who had been issued a concealed carry permit.

Now, leaving aside that this rocket scientist compared gun owners to sex offenders, there were names on that list that belong to women who were hiding from an abusive ex, or from someone else who had victimized them. To me, publishing those addresses doesn't seem like a good idea.

Nor, really, does providing burglars with an "interactive map" of where they need to go to steal guns seem like wise thinking.

And the notion that publishing this information would allow parents to see if the other parents driving the carpool are packing heat is just moronic. If you want to know if they're armed, fucking ASK them. If you don't know them well enough to broach the subject, is it really a good idea to be sending your kids off with them every day?

The paper is mostly unapologetic for this mess, essentially saying that they didn't break any laws with their bone-headed move, and they've now shut the barn door when the horse is three miles up the road by taking the database down, so what's the problem?

I don't have a pony in the race, since I'm a moose, and mooses can't get CCW permits in any state that I know of. (I've always wondered, however, why my constant state of extreme arousal doesn't qualify me for a permit, since I've heard people say that guns are phallic symbols.) And none of my people live in Virginia. But I can see why CCW holders in that state are pissed off. This sort of invasion of privacy was NOT the intention behind Freedom Of Information laws.

On the positive side, the state legislature is going to consider the issue of whether the names and addresses of those who have a permit to carry concealed weapons should be a matter of public record in the first place. Also, the assclowns who decided it was a good idea to put the database on line will be fending off several very expensive lawsuits.

But what of the people who will have to re-arrange their whole lives because some smart-ass thought this was a good exercise in exploring the benefits and short-comings of Freedom Of Information laws? Is Mr. Trejbal going to use his paltry Roanoke Times salary to personally compensate them for their moving expenses and other costs associated with this clusterfuck? Somehow I doubt it.

Which is why that cocksucker needs to eat shit and die.

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