law passed to prevent release of firearm ownership

[BlaqueKatt]

in Illinois

“Why exempt gun owners? We’re not taking away any of their rights,” said Rep. LaShawn Ford, a Democrat from Chicago who voted against the bill. “What are gun owners afraid of?”

No we have no rights to privacy, even though SCOTUS has ruled numerous times that the 9th amendment does apply to privacy.

"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

WTF were they thinking? "I know, let's publish the names and addresses of everyone who owns a gun, nothing bad can come from that"

“We have freedom of information laws to protect citizens from their government, not give out private information.”

and what are we afraid of

Proponents argued the bill was needed to stop the release of information that criminals could use to find gun owners and steal their weapons. They argued those who didn’t own guns might also be put in the way of harm because bad guys might target homes where they know people aren’t armed.

[Hyena Dandy]

Yeah, I see no way that releasing the information of who owns guns and where they live helps... Really, anyone. Who would this help, really?

[Rapscallion]

Whilst I'm against free gun ownership, I could see criminals using a list such as that to work out where they would be safe to break into on a night. In short, criminals would be helped.

Rapscallion

[Gravekeeper]

Whilst I'm against free gun ownership, I could see criminals using a list such as that to work out where they would be safe to break into on a night. In short, criminals would be helped.

Yeah, I'm not fond of free gun ownership. But this is just idiotic. May as well give them a road map. Go here if you need to steal a gun or here if you want to avoid facing a gun? Brilliant. -.-

[Ginger Tea]

I'm reminded of a story I heard at work many years ago.
Guy worked for a burglar alarm company who also sold dummy alarms.
Friend of Guy knew which alarms were fake due to being 'sold' a list, Friend was caught when one customer changed their mind and upgraded to a real one with Guy's co worker.

You may as well have a large sign with "gun owner lives here"

[Nyoibo]

You may as well have a large sign with "gun owner lives here"

I've seen houses with those sorts of signs.

[Shangri-laschild]

I've seen houses with those sorts of signs.

Yes but did the owner choose to advertise that or did the government post that sign Part of the desire to have privacy isn't just the desire to keep things to yourself but the desire to be able to decide who knows and who you tell.

Also criminals aren't the only bad reason for this information getting out. Considering the reasons a FOID would get rejected, having the information of who got rejected could hurt the people who were rejected. If you know someone was rejected for a FOID, usually you probably are going to assume it's because of a criminal background or mental health issues. While the first is a matter of public record, the second is not. Not to mention the fact that if this information was released, would it say why someone was rejected? That could possibly release medical information which they shouldn't legally be able to do.

I think that freedom of information things should really be decided based on whether there is a reason for people to be able to review that information rather than the general "we should be able to know." I'm not really against the freedom of information act and I can see good reasons for it but some instances just feel like information for the sake of information.

[DrFaroohk]

I hope they sell these lists along with the locations of known homosexuals and anyone who is non-christian. Hey, if you're gonna step up to the bell you might as well ring it.

[daleduke17]

Surprisingly Illinois didn't allow the lists to become public. They were probably afraid of the number of people to either move out of Illinois, or just not register their firearms.

[Rapscallion]

I hope they sell these lists along with the locations of known homosexuals and anyone who is non-christian. Hey, if you're gonna step up to the bell you might as well ring it.

Did ... did someone invoke Godwin there?

Rapscallion

[Hyena Dandy]

Uh, what Faroohk? I... That was a very non-sequitor Godwin

[Nyoibo]

Did ... did someone invoke Godwin there?

Rapscallion

Not quite, there was no mention of Hitler or Nazis.

[insertNameHere]

Lol, actually got to love firearms registration, it lets whoever is coming to take your guns know how many you have.... its what the Nazis did

[Rapscallion]

Has this place turned into Godwin central of late?

Rapscallion

[Hyena Dandy]

Are you trying to regulate our debate, NAZI?!