Everything online journalists need to protect their legal rights. This free resource culls from all Reporters Committee resources and includes exclusive content on digital media law issues.
Mathew Chappell, center, carries his Ruger Mini 30, as he speaks with a reporter, right, following a gun bill hearing at the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City.
Nevada: Issued concealed gun permits and their status are public records but the applications for permits are not.
Presumed Open:
New Hampshire: State law requires local officials to administer a handgun licensing program and to collect personal information from individuals applying for the licenses. Although there is no statutory prohibition on disclosing the data, there are no statutes or court decisions affirming that the records are public.
Gun rights advocates demonstrate outside the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. on Feb. 28. The group rallied against the recently legislated NY SAFE Act and other measures they say infringe on their constitutional right to bear arms.
New York’s sweeping new gun control bill, signed into law on Tuesday, will allow gun owners to keep the fact that they own a weapon private, changing the previous version of the law that required such records to be public.
The Illinois House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday that would exempt the names of Firearm Owners Identification card holders from the state Freedom of Information Act. The bill would negate a March attorney general opinion that held that such information was subject to disclosure under the law.
Revealing the names of individuals who have firearm permits does not invade personal privacy or endanger gun owners, the Illinois public access counselor said in an opinion released this week. An Associated Press reporter requested the names in September 2010 under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and was denied access by the Illinois State Police.
Nevada's high court has ruled that the identities of concealed gun permit holders and records related to the permit's current status are public records under state law despite an exemption that makes the application for a permit confidential.
Open government advocates in Tennessee have narrowly succeeded in blocking passage of a measure that would have barred public access to gun permits, according to The Associated Press.
