Statists tend to believe that government lists are beneficial or at worst benign. They tend to believe that government has good cause for creating lists. That part is true. Government does have good cause for creating lists. But that cause is neither beneficial or benign. It’s to inflict ill on those they deem worthy of punishment.
The Attorney General of California just demonstrated this by publishing the name and home address of every carry permit holder in the state:
California Attorney General today announced new and updated firearms data available through the California Department of Justice (DOJ)’s 2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal. The dashboard is accessible though DOJ’s OpenJustice Data Platform. The announcement will improve transparency and information sharing for firearms-related data and includes broad enhancements to the platform to help the public access data on firearms in California, including information about the issuance of Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) permits and Gun Violence Restraining Orders (GVROs).
The Attorney General claims this is to improve transparency, but it’s obviously retaliation for the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, which found that requiring carry permit applicants to provide proper cause violated the Second Amendment.
By publishing this information, the Attorney General provided burglars who want guns with a list of homes to hit, abusers who have lost track of their victims with their victim’s hiding places, and every other ne’er-do-well with the identities and home addresses of people whose only “crime” was to obtain a carry permit. Of course, this was the intent because the Attorney General is angry about not being able to deny California denizens the legal privilege of carry a means of self-defense.
Lists can be a neutral tool. This sounds like a list of political “enemies” that his followers can drop a Red Flag on. It is always useful for the “party” to have lists of specific kinds of opponents, so the “loyalists” know how to react. “Dropping a dime” on arbitrary people is a waste of time and effort. Having a list of “gun guys” tells the loyalists what to say to which official. The victim gets to spend a fortune in cash and time fighting the lie. And best of all, the “report” is secret, so the victim doesn’t know who did it. None of that “snitches get stitches” kind of stuff. Just a “Blue Check” next to your name on the other party list. It worked like a charm in the DDR (Communist East Germany). Welcome to the peoples’ Republic of Kalifornia