Make sure you send them these next couple links.
It seems that a newspaper in Medford, OR (The Mail Tribune) wanted to publish the personal information of all Oregon CCW holders.
Being the good guy that he is, the Washington County Sheriff, Rob Gordon, told them to go piss up a rope. Quite probably a lot nicer than that too.
But the newspaper creeps weren’t satisfied and they found a judge who was hateful enough to rule against the Sheriff, stating that unless the CCW holder had specifically and in writing stated that they wanted the permit for “Security Reasons”,then there is no reason to believe that the CCW holder wanted their information kept private and that the Sheriff was obliged to release the names to the public.
Again, being the good guy that he is, Sheriff Gordon is mailing letters to CCW holders within his jurisdiction, relaying what the judge said. Included with the letter is a simple Y/N form and instructions on how to fill it out to keep their information private.
Again, if you know a CCW holder in Oregon, le tthem know that unless they’re in Washington County, OR, that they have to contact their issuing agency and let them know, specifically and in writing, that they have their CCW for “Security Reasons”.
And if you have a moment, I’m pretty sure that calling the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and voicing your support for Sheriff Rob Gordon would be appreciated.
The actual lawsuit is filed in Jackson County (seat is Medford). Washington county took the lead in starting an opt-out system.
My county’s (Multnomah’s) position is that they will release not the entire list, but will answer whether any particular citizen has a concealed weapons permit.
The irony of all this is that there is a state law in Oregon which says that if it’s a matter of personal safety of the CHL holder, the data may not be released, and evidently, Multnomah county has failed to ask it’s CHL holders what their choice is when their names are inquired against.
I’m betting that this will go away in appeals court, because the state law will be upheld. Don’t forget that they grow some prime ganja in Jackson County, and it would appear that at least one judge has been smoking it.
I hope the new Multnomah County Sheriff, Bob Skipper, immediately puts a halt to the practice of answering these inquiries against the CHL list.
How is getting a CCW ever not for security reasons? It may not be the main reason sometimes, but it always is one of the reasons.
We need to start taking the warning labels off of things or something. The stupid ones are getting through too easily.