By: Mark Fitzgerald When the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif., asked to see the list of people permitted to carry concealed weapons in Shasta County, the sheriff said sure ? but first he wanted to alert the permit holders.
After Sheriff Jim Pope sent out letters to the 3,700 people, the Record Searchlight heard from hundreds of them.
"I myself talked to about 100 people in the first three or four days. The reporter who was doing the story ? Maline Hazle, heard from close to that many ? and our editor [Tom King] got probably 50 calls," said Managing Editor Greg Clark.
Most callers were satisfied when the paper explained that it had no intention of publishing the list of concealed-weapon holders, Clark said. In the end, despite the threats of about half a dozen callers, no one canceled their subscription or took other action, he said.
However, things got a little scary Oct. 1 when a bomb threat forced the Searchlight to evacuate its offices. Many believe the threat was related to the concealed-weapon-holder list.
The paper first asked only to see if concealed-weapon permits had been issued to two people, brothers who are accused of murdering a local gay couple. The two did not have permits, but, as part of its continuing coverage of the case, the paper decided it wanted to look at the entire list of approximately 3,700 permit holders.
The sheriff's policy of alerting permit holders to the request is not required by state law, which says concealed-weapon permits are public records. The department says it is re-examining the policy.
Sheriff Pope subsequently sent out a second letter, saying that the paper did not intend to publish the list.
"That never was our intent, and we have no plans of doing that," Managing Editor Clark said.
(Editor & Publisher Web Site: http://www.mediainfo.com) [Caption]
(copyright: Editor & Publisher October 16, 1999) [Caption]
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