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Legislators in Ohio signed a concealed-carry law in January, adding to it a peculiar proviso that has pitted some gun owners against the editor of the state’s largest newspaper.
According to the law, personal information about permit holders would be available to newspaper reporters but not the public. The editor of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Doug Clifton, decided to run the names, ages and counties of residence of the roughly 3,000 permit holders, according to Editor & Publisher.
Ohioans for Concealed Carry (OFCC) in turn ran Clifton’s home address and telephone number on its Web site. The OFCC’s Web site explained that the Plain-Dealer was one of the first to abuse the media access privilege, after Gov. Taft said reporters could act as a check and a balance. “The editor believes in open records. So the OFCC publishing his home address and phone number shouldn’t be a problem.”