Tennessee Paper's Release of CCW Holders' Names, Identifying Info May Backfire

Tennesseans were outraged last week when it became known that the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper has a searchable database of everyone in that state who possesses a concealed carry license.

Newspaper editors today might be a little more nervous as it has come out that one in four state lawmakers in Tennessee has a CCW. If there has not been a push to close down public access to these records before, there might be far more interest in such now. And it may well be driven not by people scattered around the state, but by the people who represent them right in the Tennessee Statehouse.

The Commercial Appeal arrogantly put every CCW holder and their family at risk by making name and address info available. And editors there are un-apologetic. Gun rights advocates have been busy making reporters and editors' personal info (names, personal addresses, mortgage info, etc.) available online so the members of the Fourth Estate (my former profession for which I used to have so much admiration) can feel a little of the medicine they so pompously dish out.

This one will be interesting to watch . . .