FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT) - If you own a handgun here in Kentucky, there's a website owner searching for your name and address. Letters went out to every sheriff in the state looking for that information.

Franklin County Sheriff Pat Melton got the certified letter late last month.

"There's no good that's going to come from that, in my opinion," he said.

Signed by Aaron Nobel, editor of the website Heavy.com, the open records request asks for the name and address of every registered handgun owner in the county. That letter went to every sheriff's office across the state.

"We definitely believe and support the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms and we think that's very important and we also don't think that it's anybody's business who has concealed-carry licenses," said Melton.

That list of concealed-carry permit holders is the only thing that could be considered a list of "handgun owners" here in Kentucky. State police, not the local sheriff's offices, oversee those records and state law prohibits releasing that information to anyone except law enforcement.

"It's no different than me going to your house and asking about your children. It's a violation of your privacy," said gun owner Lavon Hill.

Hill said publishing information like that would make gun owners prime targets for thieves.

"To me, it's a shopping list of gun owners. That's all it is," he said.

WKYT tried to contact the editors of Heavy.com, but that email was not returned.