MSNBC's Touré: 'I Have a Right to Know...Who Has a Gun and Who Doesn't\

A weekly publication in New York, The Journal News, has come under fire for publishing the names and addresses of pistol permit holders in two New York counties. On Thursday, the publication got some help from a couple of MSNBC hosts who defended the paper's actions.

During Thursday's edition of "The Cycle," co-host Touré argued that he has every right to know the identity of every gun owner around him.

"I have a right to know, I think, to know who has a gun and who doesn't," Touré said. "Maybe I don't want to go there, maybe I don't want my kids going there."

He went on to claim that guns are far more likely to be used against friends and family than against home intruders.

"We treat guns as a private choice, but they are really a public matter in that having a gun impacts the local community, the national community," Touré explained, adding that firearms are the leading cause of death in nearly every age category.

"They're not sex offenders," co-host Krystal Ball chimed in.

Watch the clip via MSNBC/Mediaite below:

Fellow co-host Steve Kornacki agreed with Touré, saying "I would like to know, if I was moving out to the suburbs with my family, I'd like to know if a neighbor had stockpiled weapons like Nancy Lanza had." But Kornacki did say there was an ethical side of the argument when you are dealing with releasing people's personal information and home addresses.

Kornacki also argued that America has made a "decision as a society" to make gun owners' personal information publicly available.

Kornacki may have overstated his case as confidentiality law varies from state to state. Yes, it's true that in New York, handgun permit holders' information is available to the public. However, states like Texas consider concealed carry permit holders' personal information confidential.

Either way, confidentiality law is not something that the United States made a "decision as a society" on, they are laws written and enacted by public officials.