Virginia State Police close access to gun permit records

I’ve posted about the ill-advised editorial written by the Roanoke Times wherein they published a database containing the names and addresses of the people licensed to carry a concealed weapon (CCW) by the state. One of the items I brought up was that the issue was never a matter of whether the paper was allowed to publish the records. They were, after all, publicly accessible. The issue was whether those records should ever have been publicly available in the first place.

The Times now reports that the VA State Police, acting on the advice of the Attorney General, has closed access to those records.

An editorial writer’s botched attempt to highlight an open record — the list of Virginians licensed to carry a concealed handgun — resulted Friday in the record being closed.

Acting on the advice of Attorney General Bob McDonnell, the Virginia State Police said they will no longer release the information under the state’s open records law.

Atty General Bob McDonnell’s advice was requested by one of the General Assembly’s Delegates (Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg) ahead of efforts to introduce bills next session to close access to the records. Based on McDonnell’s advice, the State Police made the decision to not make further releases of the information. Crime vicitims are not specially indicated in the list so there’s no way for the police to withhold their data. The only safe approach is to not release the compiled list to anyone outside of law enforcement

I applaud this move. If it errs at all, it errs to the side of caution. It also engages a debate that should have been held before all this happened, a debate in which I’m happy to participate. I look forward to seeing more about this and will write more as the debate advances.