Liberty in jeopardy
To the editor:
Readers may recall that last December, the Journal News, a New York newspaper, published a list of concealed carry permit holders in New York, complete with a map. There was much outrage at that brazen overstep by the Journal News, but in the end apathy prevailed. We all lead busy lives and, after all, such things don’t happen around here anyway.
It recently came to light that the Bangor Daily News was endeavoring to compile a list of all CC permit holders in Maine. The timing of the BDN’s request to the state was in response to pending legislation in Augusta to make the identity of CC permit holders confidential. The BDN maintains that it was never their intention to publish a list of all CC permit holders, rather the request was made as “part of long-term reporting projects on domestic violence, sexual assault and drug abuse.” Well, that’s reassuring, exactly what sort of correlations did they intend to draw between wife beaters, rapists, drug addicts, and those of us who choose to take responsibility for our own safety? We, the law abiding citizens are not served in the least by such egregious action.
On Feb. 15th, the BDN announced that they were withdrawing their request for the names of Maine’s CC permit holders. This reversal, however, was brought about by the outrage of the citizenry, not a change of heart at the newspaper. The most telling part of the whole situation is not that the BDN asked for the names, it is not even that the names were and are in the public domain. The true issue for consideration is that even before the BDN‘s debacle, Augusta was already considering the need to conceal the identity of law abiding citizens who choose to carry firearms for the protection of themselves and their families.
Until recently, there was nothing to fear by being open about CC permit holder’s identities; it was unthinkable that a person or organization would violate the public trust by seeking to use that information to expose or malign their fellow citizens. Today we cannot be so trusting, this latest event is just another example of the pervasiveness of the societal changes which we see throughout our nation. These changes should give us all pause and teach us that apathy is an expensive luxury, one which we can no longer afford to indulge.
Cody Pond
Haynesville
UMPI history major
