Memphis Newspaper Targets Gun Owners

The 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms doesn't mean much to the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Memphis newspaper has posted a searchable database of Tennesseans with permits to carry concealed handguns, upsetting firearms owners and igniting a debate on whether such information should be available to the public.

Gun owners say the database is an invasion of privacy and makes permit holders easy targets for burglaries. They have flooded the newspaper with complaints — some 600 e-mails daily, threatened staff and posted personal information about newspaper employees, including Google maps to some homes.

It sounds like both sides are overreacting a bit, but I would disagree a bit with the idea that publishing those permit holders would make them "easy" targets for burglaries. Certainly there would be some concern that gangbanger types might look to score guns in some of those homes, but I would think that prudent burglars would want to steer clear of those places. After all, wouldn't it be a bit safer to burglarize the homes of Commercial Appeal employees who don't have guns to defend themselves?

For the record, I'm very much in favor of right-to-carry laws and wish we had legislators in California who believed in the 2nd Amendment and freedom, and I don't believe there's a "right to know" for the public to be informed who does or doesn't have a gun. If there should be a tragic situation involving a gunowner killed by a burglar, the Appeal may get creamed in a lawsuit.