Yet another editorial decrying the partial closure of the media access loophole has been published, this time by the News-Herald.

Once again, I need to point out that the logic behind the public lists aiding criminals is not so much that we will be attacked, but because it serves as a shopping list for homes to burglarize when nobody is home. Many gun owners own more than one firearm, and a criminal who wants to increase his chance of finding a home with free guns has only to look to the newspaper.

Aslanides, or one of the bill's 46 co-sponsors, should produce a concealed gun permit holder who has been targeted for crime after a list of gun permit holders was published in a newspaper.

For this argument to hold water, the media should produce a concealed handgun license holder who has misused his license and become a threat to society to show that this access is required.

The News-Herald hasn't published such lists, but access to them helps ensure that all facets of the law are complied with.

The original intent behind giving the media access was to do just that. The problem is that many media outlets have abused this privilege and provided public access to the lists. If public access was intended, then anyone would be able to obtain the lists. The privilege has been abused, and now it must be more tightly controlled.

So these gun advocates don't fear criminals. Rather, they fear public accountability.

Absolutely untrue. What we "fear" is the kinds of misuse of the released names that we have already seen. People have lost their jobs, been evicted from their homes, and received unwanted attention from nosy neighbors. One anti-gun extremist openly advocated using the lists as a hiring/firing tool to make sure you don't have "those kinds of people" working for you. Some people, especially women, have shied away from obtaining a CHL because they don't want their name and age printed in the paper like they are a criminal. Not to mention the fact that there are battered women in hiding who would like to be able to protect themselves, but are concerned that their abusive spouse will use the information on the list to track them down.

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution grants a right to bear arms. But the freedom of religion, speech, the press and to petition the government, remain rights protected by the First Amendment.

No right is absolute. I can't walk into a courthouse with my firearm, and the media can't print my medical records.

If concealed gun permit holders can't deal with this scrutiny, they should turn in their weapons.

And if the media can't control themselves and stop misusing the lists to push their own agenda of intimidation and flaunting their privileges, then they should turn in their pens.