As I stopped by Costco’s gas station to fill up this afternoon, I noticed a woman in front of me put the pump nozzle in her car and then get back in her car. I can’t recall ever seeing a man do this. I suppose some women get chilled while they’re waiting for their tank to fill.

Getting back into the car can result in women getting warmer than they anticipated. There have been some reports of gas station fires apparently sparked by static electricity that built up when the driver rubbed against the car seat. Here’s video from one that happened in Oklahoma City this past January. Fortunately no one was hurt.

I’ll never understand why some gun owners get bent out of shape when someone posts the addresses of gun permit holders. It’s a public record, after all. Some gun owners defend their right to bear arms by saying their guns somehow “keep the government in check,” but the government already knows who has guns, so what’s the big deal?

And just what harm do gun owners think it will do to have their address listed? Do they think that it will somehow make them a target for burglary? Do you know of any crooks dumb enough to break into the home of someone that they know is packing heat? Isn’t that a bit suicidal?

There is already a ton of information out there on everyone. Everyone is in someone’s database, whether it be voter records, driver license records, criminal records, tax records, real estate records, credit records, medical records, travel records, credit card records, customer loyalty records, utility records, and on and on and on. Hell, some of us even give away more information by writing blogs.

Letting people know that you own a gun doesn’t make you any less safe, I probably makes you safer. Posting the info of those who point to already publicly-available information – doing everyone a favor by reminding us how documented our lives already are – only makes gun enthusiasts look petty and vindictive. That’s not the image gun owners should be trying to cultivate.