By Tim Inwood

Just a little over a week after my article concerning
anti-gun bias at Channel 5 in Cincinnati, another
abuse of the First Amendment came to my attention.
This time it was not in Ohio, but Oregon.

Click 'Read More' for the entire commentary.

I had been watching the case of Shirley Katz from
afar, ever since I first heard Neal Boortz talk about
her on his radio show. This poor woman is a public
school teacher who lives in Medford, Oregon and the
tale told in the press does not quite fit the truth of
what has actually happened. You see, Shirley Katz has
been portrayed as a woman recently divorced who fears
her ex-husband. That is the tip of the iceberg.

Shirley Katz in reality is a victim of harassment from
the promoters of what I have dubbed the “Culture of
Sheep”. Shirley got called into the Principal’s office
one day. There waiting for her was a police officer
and the principal of the school who, after lowering
the blinds, proceeded to grill her about if she had a
concealed carry permit, as someone had reported to the
school that she had one. Since this was perfectly
legal, she not concerned, and she replied “yes”. Then
they demanded to know “Do you have a gun? Do you bring
it to school?” She said “no”. They then threatened if
she had a gun in her car they would arrest her and she
would be fired.

This was insane. Under the law of Oregon she could
carry to school if she wished to. Only the State
legislature has the authority to make schools off
limits for carrying and they had not done that. The
police officer had no right to threaten her with
arrest or search of her vehicle for something that was
perfectly legal. Shirley turned to Gun Owners of
America and they in turn had Shirley contact the
Oregon Firearms Federation (OFF).

OFF kindly offered to help and to pay her legal
bills should a lawsuit result. However they did try to
reason with the principal prior to taking legal
action. The two local legislators for the Medford
area called the school to explain the law was on
Shirley’s side if she wanted to carry at school. The
head of the district Phil Long, would not listen to
reason.

Angered by what happened to her, and deciding she did
want to be protected if her ex-husband or any loon
came to shoot up the school (not an unreasonable
concern with all the stories about school and mall
shootings), she decided to take legal action. This
then moved to the courts. Sadly it wound up in the
hands of an activist court that ignored the law. They
ruled against her. This is truly political
correctness, and judicial activism at its most insane.

To make things worse the local press got involved. In a bad move that reminds me of the folly of Matt
Westerhold of the Sandusky Register, here in Ohio, the
Tribune Mail of Medford has asked Jackson County to
provide the names of all school teachers in Jackson
County who have their concealed carry license. To his
credit Sheriff Mike Winters has refused the request. Now Editor Bob Hunter is suing the sheriff to get
those records. Mr. Hunter’s view is the CCW license
is public record, so he should be allowed to publish
the information. He thinks the public has the right to
know whom the teachers are who have obtained a CHL.

Our friends at the Oregon Firearms Federation have
done their best to reason with Mr. Hunter and others
at the Mail Tribune. Kevin Starrett of the OFF has
written, “Editor Bob Hunter believes that he has the
right to those names for whatever purpose he chooses
to use them. "This is information bought and paid for
by the public, and the public has a right to it.” But
of course, that's not true. The public did not buy and
pay for this information. The information was paid for
by the fees license holders are forced to pay to
exercise a "right." But Bob goes on “It’s important
for news media to take a stand on something like this
because if public information is withheld in this way
it will diminish the amount of public information the
public is allowed to see…”

“The truth is, whether it is legal for the press to
obtain these names or not, (and attorneys have
recently informed us it may NOT be legal) the only
purpose being served is to chill the rights of gun
owners.”

We at BFA agree with this assessment by Mr. Starrett.
We have seen directly the damage of having the names
of CHL holders in Ohio made public. Bill Singleton
was killed in an ambush-style robbery shortly after the Cleveland Plain Dealer
disclosed that he was an Ohio CHL holder. As we would
like to avoid seeing anyone being injured because of
the callous actions by the press, we would like to
remind Mr. Hunter that the issue of Public Records is
a double edged sword. Anyone wishing to check out the
Mail Tribune can do so here - http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage. Having found that, they can easily see whom the
advertisers are with that paper and let them know what
they think of what the editor is doing to the privacy
of these citizens and the potential danger he is
placing them in.

Prior to doing that though I hope you will drop a line
to the Editor Bob Huntery by email at >bhunter@mailtribune.com. Or by snail mail by dropping
him a note or phone call here:

Mail Tribune
P.O. Box 1108
111 N. Fir St.
Medford, OR 97501
541-776-4411

Please write a polite letter expressing your views on
this issue. Make it clear that it is disgusting to
swing the First Amendment as a bludgeon to attack our
Second Amendment rights. It is an appalling abuse that
must stop. I remind you to please be polite,
persuasive, and logical; do not be threatening or
menacing in any way. Let’s not reinforce a stereotype
that is not true of gun owners. I only say this
because I know you are going to be irritated with this
man, but let’s hope that by showing him we are
reasonable people, who only wish to protect themselves
from criminals, we will bring him around to understand
that publishing the names of CHL holding school
teachers is a bad idea. Hopefully Mr. Hunter will be
persuaded and our friends at the Oregon Firearms
Association will not need to give Mr. Hunter the
“Westerhold Treatment”. BFA published public but personal information about Mr. Westerhold to help him understand what he had done to over
2000 citizens of northern Ohio. Needless to say he was
somewhat nonplussed, but it appears he did learn his lesson. Mr.
Hunter may wish to give Mr. Westerhold a call to
better understand what a miserable experience his decision
caused.

It is my understanding that Oregon Firearms
Federation is prepared to release the home address and
phone number of Mr Hunter as well as the following
associates of the Mail Tribune: Mr. Troy Heie, Mr John
Mihalyo and Mr. Richard Moeschl, if they continue with
these plans to sue the Sheriff for these license
holders private information. That may sound harsh, but
it is no different than what they plan to do to the
CHL-holding citizens of Jackson County.

It may sadly take that unwanted attention to make
them realize the undesired persecution and torment
that will likely befall these good citizens if the
Mail Tribune breaks the public trust by publishing
these names. Hopefully they will come to their senses
and drop this foolish pursuit. They should help
protect the privacy of their fellow citizens who only
wish to be able to defend themselves. If the press
continues to abuse the First Amendment in a pursuit of
destroying the Second Amendment, then they should not
be surprised if the First Amendment is used to expose
them in the same fashion.

Tim Inwood is the current Legislative Liaison and Past
President of the Clinton County Farmers and Sportsmen
Association, an Endowment Member of the NRA, Life
Member of OGCA, and a volunteer for Buckeye Firearms
Association in Ohio.