The controversial New York
gun law passed recently contained a provision whereby gun registration
information (such as addresses of registrants) would cease to be accessible to
the general public. This came after the contemptible publication of gun owners’
addresses by a newspaper in the downstate’s Hudson Valley.
But my question is this. You
are required to register with the government if you wish to exercise these
three constitutional rights: gun ownership, voting and property ownership. But
while the addresses of voters and property owners are considered public domain,
available for any Tom, Dick and Harry to publish on the Internet (or for any
stalker to target their victim), the addresses of gun owners, at least in New
York state, are now private.
I’ve asked this question of
many people but I’ve still never gotten an answer: why is the privacy of
registrants’ information treated differently for gun owners than it is for
voters and property owners?
Please note: This entry is
NOT intended to debate whether one should have to register to exercise any of
these rights. It’s acknowledging the fact that one has to and wondering why the
personal information is subsequently treated differently depending on the right
being exercised. Any comments that focus on whether one should have to register
for any of these will be rejected so as not to hijack the intent of the
discussion.
