Private businesses can do things that either endear
themselves to you or drive you away from them.
I personally have a boycott on several local businesses because of their
customer service, their political decisions, or the way they have treated me as
a customer. Recently, I found one
business that just may get my business the next time I am in the market for a
new automobile.
One large media outlet (that has a television broadcast
channel position somewhere in between 4 and 6) thought that it would be a good
idea to publish on their web site, a list of every concealed weapons permit
holder in their viewing area.
Specifically, the permit holders are from “Chatham, Cumberland, Durham,
Edgecombe, Franklin, Granville, Halifax, Harnett, Hoke, Johnston, Lee, Moore,
Orange, Nash, Northampton, Person, Sampson, Vance, Warren, Wayne, Wilson and
Wake counties.” For instance, I can tell
you that there are four concealed carry weapon permit (CCW) holders on the
street on which I live and 435 of them in my home town of Selma.
Keep in mind that the recent shooting in Aurora, Colorado
just happened within the last week, so this data publication was worked and
planned for a long time. It was not just
thrown together in response to the shooting as a call for gun control. It was a well thought out project. Grass Roots North Carolina, a state wide gun
rights group took notice of this and alerted the thousands of North Carolina
residents on their email list of the data release. I saw this information from several sources,
so I went and checked out the information.
In many cases, the data lists only the number of permit owners on a
particular street. In other instances,
street addresses are actually given.
What does this mean to the public? Although this is public information, this
television station’s web site aggregates this data into one place for the
entire area. There are two ways of
looking at it. Either this list gives
criminals a list of addresses at which they can potentially steal weapons, or
it gives them a list of places to avoid since there is the potential of getting
shot while breaking into a home. Either
way, it is, in my opinion, a breach of public trust and privacy for the purpose
of attempting to push an anti-gun agenda.
One business has officially taken a stand on this television
station’s action. A large automotive
dealership chain in the Triangle area has decided to exercise a boycott of its
own. Chris Leith has placed an official statement on the dealership’s public web site.
This is only a partial quote. “As you may be aware WRAL published an article that upset many of
our customers and members of our community. The people affected were those like me; strong
believers in our US Constitution and our 2nd amendment rights…As for me and my
company, I’m a concerned citizen and strong believer in our constitutional
rights. I have made contact with WRAL
and I have instructed them to remove anything that bears the Chris Leith name. At this point they have chosen not to pull the
article and therefore I have severed ties with them. I really hate that this situation has occurred
and I hope my actions will speak louder than words. [sic]”
Now that takes guts. Normally I find some liberal weenie severing
ties with and pulling advertising from a conservative media outlet or some talk
show host over an off-handed comment.
However, this is a business decision to sever ties with a media outlet
that has chosen to “out” gun owners, and specifically those who (like me) possess
a concealed carry weapons permit. Chris
Leith has taken a stand that an attempt to expose gun ownership and
specifically CCW permit holders is an unacceptable assault on both privacy and
gun rights. He has taken what is in my
opinion, a courageous stand. I appreciate
that and will most likely reward him by shopping there first when I am looking
for a new automobile.
For the record, it is my official
opinion that nobody should not need to have a CCW permit to carry a
handgun. What part of “the right
of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” is so difficult to
comprehend? As famous author Robert
Heinlein said, “An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one
may have to back up his acts with his life.”
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