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Open records advocates say gun bill amounts to ‘prior restraint’ NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Information contained in handgun permit applications and renewals would be confidential under a bill moving in the Legislature. The measure sponsored by Senate Republican leader Mark Norris of Collierville unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. The companion bill is scheduled for a House subcommittee today. Under current law, Norris said, only a person’s driver’s license is confidential. But his bill would protect other personal information, such as an individual’s address and phone number. Anyone who disclosed the information would be charged with a felony. Open records advocates are concerned about that provision and its potential impact on news reporting. Frank Gibson of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government says the legislation violates the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press because it places a “prior restraint” on publishing information about gun ownership. The Associated Press is a member of TCOG. “This legislation, if it passed, would close all the records,” Gibson told The Tennessean, “so the public would have no way of knowing whether the state had issued a gun permit to a person with mental illness or to a convicted felon.” Supporters of the confidentiality bill say they want to prevent potential burglars from using the permit records to plot a gun theft. |
