Nashville Newspaper has Searchable Carry Database

[Guest Len]

The Tennessean (www.tennessean.com) today has a front-page article on proposed gun legislation. Along with the article is a database on the website that allows users to search for carry permit holders in TN.

Folks, this is a database of all carry permit holders in TN and its right there on the website of one of the state's largest newspapers.

While this is all public records made available by the Dept of Safety, I know some of you probably are very concerned about this, so I thought I should bring it to your attention.

The article also includes a small chart of gun permit holders as a percentage of population in several mid-state counties. It is interesting to note that Davidson County (Nashville) ranks 94th in the state (out of 95 counties) in terms of permit holders by percent of population. Rural Robertson County (Springfield) is 3rd.

[TGO David]

I just searched. I'm in there (of course) and thankfully it's just first name, middle name, last name and suffix being listed for anyone on file. If they had published my address or phone number, I'd be incredibly more pissed off than I am anyway.

Being that this information is public domain, there's really not much that can be said or done about it. I think the biggest beef that the people in Virginia (wasn't it VA?) had was that their home addresses were being posted. Some of whom may have had relocated to avoid estranged spouses, jilted lovers, criminals or other such unsavory characters.

If the Tennessean had done THAT, I'd be over at their offices right now hauling someone across a counter by their neck.

PS: You can contact the author of the article:

Contact Sheila Wissner at swissner@tennessean.com or at 259-8044.

[Guest macho999]

Well I'm a little more calm now. I can look on a map, go to the tax office and find out the name and address of who paid the taxes on it and also the deed to the property which also has their address in it. I guess it's not that big a deal.

I see my friend Joe finally got his permit. I guess I'll check up on my old buddies and see if they want to go shooting.

[TGO David]

Oh son of a bitch. Who do I call and cuss out?

It's sensationalism. The Tennessean has proven countless times that it is willing to go to any end to splatter sensationalist garbage on their front page so long as it appears that they are out there working the beat to get YOU the news that YOU deserve.

I wouldn't line the bottom of a bird cage with their pathetic rag.

[molonlabetn]

This is exactly why I am unlisted.

If they would have made my address public, both me and my employer would be jumping down their throat right now with a few rabid lawyers.

[Guest Kimber1]

This is ridiculous. I understand that this is public information, however, this tells every literate criminal where to find guns, etc. This defies any assemblance of common sense, even for the Tennessean.

[molonlabetn]

.........this tells every literate criminal where to find guns......

Good thing we live in the Edjamacashun State

[molonlabetn]

Good thing we live in the Edjamacashun State

I hope an illiterate criminal doesn't read that and be offended...

[TGO David]

What I really want to know is, what value did the Tennessean think that they added to this article by making the public at large aware of data that is irrelevant to the scope of the article itself?

That's the question that I will be posing to the author when I call them this morning.

[Guest macho999]

Well I've discovered all my neighbors, the school board, my doctor, the mayor, my preacher and just about every male and female I went to highschool with have one. I guess I'll get cracking on the county commissioners next

[TGO David]

Contact Sheila Wissner at swissner@tennessean.com or at 259-8044.

Let 'em rip!

[SkWaShDeM]

Sensational journalism at it's finest. Did anyone else find that every single person on the list was listed twice? I found my father and I, and both of us are listed twice. Just about every other name I looked for came up that way. I also couldn't do a last name search in Firefox, probably because they wanted me to see just how many evil people have carry permits in Tennessee.

[Guest macho999]

Their comment section is even more ridiculous than their reporting. They apparently write for their audience. Here's a taste:

"I've taken my family to parks and will continue to if the gun law doesn't pass. There are random men looking for sex everywhere..."

Seriously, what the heck?

I noticed the guy who writes all this liberal crap for the local paper has one haha

[RandyC]

Wasn't there supposed to be an opinion poll on their site regarding the pending legislation? I didn't see one.

And concerning the handgun permit list, how about us recruiting all the major gun owner sites to weigh in with e-mails and letters to the editor. They've done a good job in the past jumping on local papers.

If I wasn't so computer illiterate (cutting, pasteing and all) I'd grab the ball. THR, The Firing Line and maybe Combat Carry could generate a lot of traffic for us.

Also, if you haven't contacted your legislators, it's time.

[Marswolf]

They did this in Virginia. Don't have time wo write much now, but you can get the story at http://www.hk94.com/hk/Anti-gun-Reporter-Exposes-CCW-Holderand39s-Personal-Information-t22649.html

[Guest Phantom6]

Interestingly enough, their poll indicates that 78% of their respondants support the carrying of firearms by permit holders in parks and public property in general. Most likely not the answer they were looking for. HA,ha,ha,ha! As of 1125 today their responses to the story and database are turning angrily against the aTennesseesn.- Dumbasses!

[waynesan]

I heard about this a while ago listening to the Steve Gill Show. I looked and found my name and the name of some friends.

What really makes me angry is I also found my daughter's name. She has an unusual spelling for her name so anyone who sees it will know its her and where she lives. She is single and lives alone.

This kind of thing is totally irresponsible on the part of the Tennessean and I might add on the part of the State Legislature for allowing this information to be available for sensational rags like the Tennessean.

I have no problem with Law Enforcement to have access to this info. But for the news media to be able to post this info serves no purpose but to give them an opportunity to pretend they are doing something useful for the good of the community.

[Cannon Fodder]

This kind of thing is totally irresponsible on the part of the Tennessean and I might add on the part of the State Legislature for allowing this information to be available for sensational rags like the Tennessean.

Do you think they actually care?

[Guest Ghostrider]

To: swissner@tennessean.com

What a pitiful article.

I'm just curious if you did any actual research for this article or just fired off some "facts" you discovered on some liberal web site?

Your article was slanted and the message was that anyone who legally carries a weapon is either scared to death or some kind of nut case.

Neither is true. Why do you not compare the number of gun crimes (with illegally possessed and/or weapons) to the number of LIKE crimes by legal gun owners/carriers. Are you afraid your liberal friends will shun you at cocktail parties if you tell the actual TRUTH?

As for including the link to the handgun permit database, you might want to take a lesson from Virginia. Had you published addresses and phone numbers as they did, I can promise you would have been "covered up" with complaints, just as they were. As it is, that information did nothing to further your agenda except make it obvious what your are really thinking, and possibly make it easier for bad guys to find guns, or people they want to find.

Want to see the truth about handgun permit holders? Come out to a range day, shoot the weapons yourself, frequent some gun forums (like tngunowners.com, among others). That's the only way you can make the decision. That's the only way to "judge" legal gun owners and permitted carriers, not by randomly chatting with some one at a gun shop.

Now, imagine yourself being carjacked, robbed, raped, or kidnapped, or your loved ones suffering the same fate. Now, do you want to call 911 (if you can) and wait for "however long" it takes for the police to arrive? In other words, do you want to be a victim? Or do you want to take responsibility for your OWN protection, and defend the life and liberty of yourself and your family? Now, "imagine" do bad guys "avoid" gun free zones, like parks, universities and schools? No, they gravitate to them because they KNOW that no one else has a weapon, and they could care less about "rules". A legal permit holder is no more likely to do violence to anyone in a park than he is in an office, in a car, in his home, at the cash machine or anywhere else. That legal permit holder has done the gun classes (not easy, btw, although you dismiss them in your article) and has done a serious amount of soul searching about the moral and financial risks of using a weapon in self defense. It's not the legal permit holders who COMMIT CRIMES, it's the illegal owners, carriers, and criminals. The BAD GUYS!

Like most who want to see our country changed into something I can't recognize, you try to hide your true agenda in "news". As with most, you're not doing a very good job of it. We can see right thorough the smoke and mirrors.

As I said, pitiful.

On the off chance you want to actually "be" a news journalist, you can contact me, or hang out on some gun forums, and we can educate you to what is true, and what is not true.

Paul Dracos

Berry Hill, Tn.

BTW, I will be posting this note on tngunowners.com if you'd like to review it.

Would really love to take this person to a shoot, maybe to a gun show. We can only win this battle if we start getting the facts to the misinformed.

[Cannon Fodder]

I doubt it. You know if Al Gore, Pelosi, or Hitlery I mean Hillary said it that it has to be true.

[TGO David]

It appears that the Tennessean has pulled the database from their web site. I suspect it's because usage was killing their server (the pages were horribly slow to load) more so than because they were pressured to remove it by the public.

[molonlabetn]

Yep, it's gone.

Hooray!

That didn't take long. Hopefully they got the picture that such things are not welcome in this state... One way or another.

[Guest JCE]

Good thing they removed it, I was all set to go to Nashville and start a barrage of eye gouging

[Guest 0down]

Public Records are fun. Sheila Wissner lives at 1601 Lillian St.

http://www.padctn.com/webpro.htm

Here is a link to satellite imagery to her house.

http://www.google.com/maps?q=1601+Lillian+St,+Nashville,+Tennessee+37206,+USA&ie=UTF8&ll=36.171971,-86.740901&spn=0.011606,0.014269&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1

Wayne Wissner has a listed Phone Number

Wayne Wissner

1601 Lillian St

Nashville, TN 37206-2037

(615) 262-5211

[saintsfanbrian]

0down,

I appreciate your effort and dilligence, but we shouldn't stoop to their level by posting personal information regradless of how easy it is to get. We should rise above them. Remember, Stuff roles down hill.