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Gun permits shouldn't be secret

The names of those packing heat in Florida should not be a state secret. Yet the Legislature overreacted to a single incident and passed legislation that would mean concealed weapons permits are no longer public record. There is no justification for keeping the permits secret, and Gov. Jeb Bush should veto the bill.

There are legitimate reasons why concealed weapons permits should remain public records. Floridians ought to be able to find out if their neighbors have a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Parents ought to be able to check whether the parents of their children's friends have concealed weapons, not just take their word for it. Keeping the permits secret does not enhance the safety of our neighborhoods; it erodes the comfort level if residents can only assume everyone on the block might be armed.

Keeping concealed weapons permits secret also makes it impossible to determine if the Department of Agriculture is making any mistakes in determining eligibility. For example, it would be impossible for the media or anyone else to compare lists of convicted felons and owners of concealed weapons permits to determine if any felons have been improperly awarded permits. This is trust-me government at its worst, and Floridians should be concerned about the erosion of public accountability.

Just as they did when they made autopsy photos secret, legislators have overreacted to a single incident. In this case, an Orlando television station put a searchable database of concealed weapons permit holders from Central Florida on its Web site. Lawmakers quickly succumbed to the National Rifle Association, apparently concluding that keeping permits secret was a reasonable consolation prize after refusing to require businesses to let employees bring their guns to work. The bill never received an appropriate committee hearing in the Senate, yet it magically was brought to the floor in the session's final days. So now employers will still be able to ban firearms from the premises, but they will not be able to determine whether any of their workers have permits to carry concealed weapons.

In other years, gun supporters have argued that the knowledge that someone had a permit to carry a concealed weapon would be a deterrent to crime. Now they have reversed themselves, contending that keeping concealed weapons permits as public records makes the gun owners vulnerable to attack or harassment. In fact, there are no documented trends that owners of concealed weapons permits are being singled out and harassed. And existing law already exempts from public disclosure those permit holders who are being stalked.

If lawmakers were sincere about the need to protect certain concealed permit holders, there were ways to narrowly tailor a public records exemption. Instead they took the blanket approach and further weakened access to public records in the Sunshine State. The governor should stand up to the NRA, stand for Floridians who deserve to know who may be carrying a concealed firearm, and veto the bill.

[Last modified May 10, 2006, 06:30:23]