On Friday, July 6, 2007, America's #1 talk radio host notified his national audience about the actions Buckeye Firearms Association has taken in response to the privacy-invading actions by the Sandusky Register.

From the transcript, which can be viewed at RushLimbaugh.com:

RUSH: A friend of mine sent me a note about a story going on in Sandusky, Ohio. It's a big issue there. A newspaper published all 2700 people in the community with a concealed carry permit. This, of course, made the fur fly, and the gun people there, the pro-gun people there got information on the newspaper editor, where he lives, everything about him, and they published that in their publications, in Sandusky, Ohio -- and that's the way to fight this stuff!

By Chad D. Baus

During the last week of June, Sandusky Register Editor Matt Westerhold launched an all-out assault on the privacy and security of approximately 2,700 concealed handgun license holders in several Northern Ohio counties by publishing their private information - information which Ohio legislators have deemed confidential. In doing so, Editor Westerhold unilaterally made this information public record, despite the people of Ohio, through the General Assembly, deciding that this information is NOT public record.

In spite of many state legislators, county sheriffs and even Governor Strickland himself attempting to talk sense into him, citing a phantom "right to know", Westerhold, editor and self-appointed public records watchdog at the Register, published the list of CHL-holders. Westerhold claimed he did it "in the public interest", attempting to paint his actions as an exercise in legal "free speech", which has previously been held to mean that journalists cannot be prosecuted for releasing information that was intended to be confidential, classified, or even top secret.

But when it comes to Editor Westerhold's views on free speech and public records, the two weeks following the release of these law-abiding gun owners' confidential information of have been extremely enlightening.