A West Virginia Sheriff could be facing misdemeanor charges after he has refused to release the names of gun permit holders to 2 local newspaper companies.
Sheriff Patrick Butler has decided to defy the law after The Intelligence and Wheeling News-Register filed a request for a list of names and information of concealed carry weapon permit holders.
Under West Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act, Sheriff Butler is bound the law to grant the request for the publicly available information. But rather than allowing the newspapers to take these names and publish them — as other newspapers have done — he went to Facebook to explain why he refused to comply.
Sheriff Butler also told local media station wtov9.com,
“First of all, I think it’s an invasion of privacy, and I think it’s a dangerous precedent to set to let people all over the Ohio Valley know who has permits and who doesn’t.”
“If you see someone’s name in the paper that has a gun and they go on vacation there’s a good chance they’ll have guns in their house,” added Sheriff Butler. “If their name isn’t in the paper, meaning they don’t have a weapon, well. I think burglars would target that area because they’d get less resistance.”
“I believe it’s been ruled it’s public record, but I am going to disagree with that until the day I’m out of office,” stated Sheriff Butler.
Many Facebook users and gun owners showed their support for the sheriff saying that the newspapers companies should be run out of town.
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