"If I was a criminal, I'd put together a database of those who are unarmed," Lambert said. "Or, if I was targeting a home, I'd pull up in front of the house and use my iPhone to access the Internet and determine whether those in the home were armed."

Ok, we're safe. well, as long as the other criminals aren't any smarter than Lambert. If they are picking homes at random, they stand a lovely chance of showing up where a criminal lives, perhaps a drug dealer who has a number of unregistered guns with which he will aggressively defend himself.

I strongly suspect that due to inheritance, theft, citizen-to-citizen sales, and other factors, there are a significant number of unregistered weapons, firearms and other weapons, out there. Trusting that database will get those iPnone criminals two in center mass. I'm not saying anything about the database but, that has to be the dumbest damn argument I ever heard.

CAFKIA

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It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.
  - William G. McAdoo

Tennessee does not offer CCW permits - the permits here are HCPs (Handgun Carry Permits). The distinction is important due to the fact that most CCWs require concealed carry, while our Tennessee HCPs allow for both open and concealed carry.

Furthermore, firearms do not decrease vulnerability, and very few carry activists would claim such a thing. Instead, they increase your probabilities of being able to adequately and effectively defend yourself (and potentially your family). If a criminal were to "get the drop" on you (say, because he looked you up in this privacy-invading database, and can identify you), carrying a firearm will not make the slightest difference in the world. A gun is not a shield, but it is a hell of a lot better than a sword.

Finally, yes, this database, the way the Commercial Appeal has thrust it into the public eye, and their ceaseless rationalization and justification for its existence all boil down to a newspaper's editorial staff doing everything they can to drum up publicity for their rag - after all, there is no such thing as bad publicity. But there is such a thing as bad publicity that invades my privacy, endangers my family, and aids and abets criminals. This database falls under that category.

Actually, the most effective firearm for home defense is a sawed off, 20 gauge pump shotgun. It requires no registration whatsoever. The sound of a round being chambered would probably induce trespassers to plan an exit strategy. You stand a much reduced chance of shooting through a wall or otherwise missing your target and doing "friendly fire" damage. Did I mention that it requires no registration? No sane person is going to choose a house based on handgun permits and no insane person is going to be especially impressed with them.

There is clearly nothing to see here.

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It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.
  - William G. McAdoo

metulj, you forgot to invoke the cue for 2nd Amendment experts:

(Cue internet 2nd Amendment experts correcting Colbert on "concealed carry" v. "handgun carry" in 3, 2, 1...)

If you had a security system in your house, it might make you feel safe. If I posted a schematic of how it works, the brand, model, etc., and also posted a list of what you're securing in the house, would that make you feel less or more safe?

That's like you calling a WTF moment on someone with a gun feeling less safe when their name is published.

"To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness. How unnatural. How cheap. How cowardly. How pathetic."

--Ted Nugent