Gunintended Consequences

Now it's becoming a trend. A Connecticut legislator wants to pass a bill that would make public the names and addresses of all of Connecticut's handgun permit holders. 

This is a dumb idea motivated by childlike reasoning. But what's most distressing is how people miss the point:

"It's crazy for someone to think this is a good idea. I can only see harm that could come from it. Do we want to give criminals access to a database that tells you where every handgun in Connecticut is?" [Gun rights advocate Richard] Burgess asked.

Also, disclosing handgun permit holders' identities still would not tell the public the location of the many thousands of additional homes in which rifles are kept, Burgess said, because the state does not require permits to own rifles. "So, really, you're not getting a benefit out of it, and you're only putting the gun owner in danger," he said.

Even those in favor of gun rights get it wrong. They're not putting the gun owner in danger---they're putting in danger the folks who own no guns! If you were a criminal, would you want to break into a house where you know the owner is a firearm user, or would you want to go for the fella who can only fend you off with a frying pan?