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Last Wednesday, Rep. Bill Post (R-Keizer) published the personal information—including home addresses and phone numbers—of three Portland-area clergy members leading an initiative campaign to ban some semiautomatic rifles in Oregon. On Friday a Vanity Fair writer did the same thing to him.
The Oregonian first reported on the bizarre dispute, which drew national attention to a long-shot Oregon campaign to ban guns commonly known as assault rifles.
The ballot initiative campaign, which was launched by the religious leaders on March 15, would ask Oregon voters to prohibit the purchase of some semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines.
Related: A Portland Church Group Plans to Ask Voters to Ban Assault Weapons in Oregon
Post put the organizers' personal information on his Facebook page, asking Oregon gun rights supporters to vocalize their disapproval of the initiative directly.
"My home phone has been ringing non-stop," says Rev. Mark Knutson, one of the clergy members behind the initiative. "There have been negative calls, but mostly people are respectful. Only one person left a message screaming obscenities."
On Friday, Vanity Fair and MSNBC writer Kurt Eichenwald—something of Twitter celebrity for his rants against President Donald Trump—doxed publicly published the person info of Post on Twitter in retaliation.
Eichenwald tweeted to his 454,000 followers Post's social security number, home address and phone number. The tweet was shortly deleted, but Eichenwald says it was meant to teach Post a lesson.
Now that I have demonstrated to @BillPostOregon i can get his home address, his personal phone number and his social security number, I have deleted.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 23, 2018
However, Bill: One more time you take info submitted to legislature to dox people for disagreeing with you, it all goes back up.
"Billy," Eichenwald tweeted, "took me 25 seconds to get all the information about you, your wife, your son (tell him happy 25th), your neighbors etc. Don't bring a knife to a bazooka fight."
...by the way, Billy, took me 25 seconds to get all the information about you, your wife, your son (tell him happy 25th), your neighbors etc. Don't bring a knife to a bazooka fight.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 23, 2018
Post could not immediately be reached for comment. But in a YouTube video outlining his stance on the initiative, Post emphatically told viewers, "Don't sign it! Don't sign it! Don't sign it!"
Post proceeded to demonstrate with a few of his own weapons the language in the initiative that he disagreed with—including the proposed ban on guns holding 10 rounds of ammunition or more and on pistol grips.
"We're dealing with fools here," he said.
For his part, Knutson says, "People need to search their own hearts on the tactic [of dialogue] they choose. We're taking the higher ground."
He says his energy is focused on getting signatures on the initiative and that he's open to engaging in respectful dialogue with anyone who would like to talk.
When asked if that includes conversing with Post, Knutson—whose personal information can still be found on Post's Facebook page—says, "I think I need his number."