By Chad D. Baus & Jim Irvine
As if declaring war on gun ownership by publishing the private, confidential information of more than 2,700 Ohio concealed handgun license (CHL) holders wasn't bad enough, an investigation by the Buckeye Firearms Association has confirmed that the Sandusky Register has another problem - the newspaper's database contains false information!
When Ohio's concealed carry law was passed by the legislators, it was never conceived or designed to have a central or regional records management function for CHL records, which are considered confidential under Ohio law.
With truly public records, the records management function is usually overseen by a records or registrar's office. The purpose of this office is to manage the additions, changes, deletions, modifications, printing, and
distribution of these official records, lists, and reports. Another important role for this office is to accept responsibility and accountability for the integrity of the records it manages. This role
becomes especially critical when information is made available on the internet.
The problem with newspapers taking on the role of being a de facto registrar of CHL records is that they are doing the distributing of information on the World Wide Web part, but aren't accepting any of the maintaining, responsibility or accountability part. In other words, newspapers are taking no responsibility for the accuracy of the information they maintain and make available!
