In response to two state newspapers publishing gun permit data, three lawmakers have introduced bills to limit the release of the Indiana handgun permit database.

According to a story in the Bloomington Herald-Times, the lawmakers have authored the bills in response to the Indianapolis Star and Herald-Times publishing edited versions of the database online.  The data can currently be purchased from the state for $32.

We applaud the lawmakers, which happen to be both republican and democrat, for addressing this obvious loophole in the law.  As the story noted, Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington said, “it either tells people where handguns are, or where handguns are not.”

We also send a large raspberry to both newspapers for publishing the data in the first place, albeit in edited form.  As both newspapers are noteworthy (in our informed but definitely biased opinion) for their decidedly “progressive” viewpoints and obvious disconnect from the societal values of the majority of Hoosiers, we don’t find it surprising that they would expend time and energy to publish the data.

We couldn’t find the database online while researching this entry, so it might have been removed after the obvious problem was noted.  I’d be interested to see if any of the editorial staff of either newspaper held a gun permit.  I’d guess not…

It’s enough to make our late, lamented friend, longtime Indianapolis Star writer “Bayou” Bill Scifres, throw a bag of fish guts under the editors door.

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