Do No Harm

I’m confused.

It is illegal to “profile” suspected criminals, such as a Hispanic youth in a hoodie running away from the house in which the alarm system signals a break-in. It is illegal to stop a vehicle for a traffic violation and ask whether the driver is a legal citizen with a valid driver’s license and insurance if s/he appears to be any form of ethnicity other than obviously all white. However, a newspaper has the legal right to publish lists of legal gun owners, next to their addresses and phone numbers, pinning a target to the legally responsible gun owners’ backs for home invasion robberies committed by those who would like to steal the weapons and use them for (further) criminal activity.

When mothers, back in the day, used to ask an errant child, “Why did you do that?” the appropriate response was NEVER “because I could.” Even as children we realized that having the capability to do something that is, at its core, wrong is not adequate justification for doing it. There has to be substance to the reason for taking actions, especially when they involve other people who may be harmed by our actions.

It may be legal to publish matters of public record, but … think for a moment the public hue and cry if the names, addresses and phone numbers of Welfare recipients were published in the local newspapers. That information is a matter of public record, but I have a feeling that the Welfare recipients would feel exposed and vulnerable if everyone in the neighborhood knew that they are subsisting on the public dole, receiving not just a hand up, but a hand-out.

There are some things that are no one else’s business until and/or unless it becomes necessary for it to become public knowledge. “Outing” all the legal gun owners in any community will not stop gun crimes from being committed, but, instead, may create an opportunity for a criminal to commit a crime to obtain a weapon that can be used in further crimes.