New York – Newspaper To List More Gun Permit Holders After Uproar

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    New York – A suburban New York newspaper that sparked an uproar among gun enthusiasts by publishing names and addresses of residents holding pistol permits is now planning to publish even more identities of permit-toting locals.

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    Further names and addresses will be added as they become available to a map originally published on December 24 in the White Plains, New York-based Journal News, the newspaper said.

    The original map listed thousands of pistol permit holders in suburban Westchester and Rockland counties just north of New York City.

    Along with an article entitled “The gun owner next door: What you don’t know about the weapons in your neighborhood,” the map was compiled in response to the December 14 shooting deaths of 26 children and adults in Newtown, Connecticut, editors of the Gannett Corp.-owned newspaper said.

    The next batch of names will be permit holders in suburban Putnam County, New York, where the county clerk told the newspaper it is still compiling information.

    Some 44,000 people are licensed to own pistols in the three counties, the newspaper said. Owners of rifles and shotguns do not need permits, the newspaper said.

    The publication prompted outrage, particularly on social media sites, among gun owners.

    “Do you fools realize that you also made a map for criminals to use to find homes to rob that have no guns in them to protect themselves?” Rob Seubert of Silver Spring, Maryland, posted on the newspaper’s web site. “What a bunch of liberal boobs you all are.”

    Republican state Senator Greg Ball of Patterson, New York, said he planned to introduce legislation to keep permit information private except to prosecutors and police.

    A similar bill that he introduced earlier as an Assemblyman failed in the state Assembly.

    “The asinine editors at the Journal News have once again gone out of their way to place a virtual scarlet letter on law abiding firearm owners throughout the region,” Ball wrote on his Senate web site.

    The newspaper’s editor and vice president of news, CynDee Royle, earlier in the week defended the decision to list the permit holders.

    “We knew publication of the database would be controversial, but we felt sharing as much information as we could about gun ownership in our area was important in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings,” she said.

    Some critics retaliated by posting reporters’ and editors’ addresses and other personal information online.

    Howard Good, a journalism professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, called the critics’ response childish and petulant.

    “It doesn’t move the issue of gun control to the level of intelligent public discussion,” he said. “Instead, it transforms what should be a rational public debate on a contentious issue into ugly gutter fighting.”

    Good said the information about permit holders was public and, if presented in context, served a legitimate interest.

    But media critic Al Tompkins of the Florida-based Poynter Institute wrote online this week that the newspaper’s reporting had not gone far enough to justify the permit holders’ loss of privacy.

    “If journalists could show flaws in the gun permitting system, that would be newsworthy,” he said. “Or, for example, if gun owners were exempted from permits because of political connections, then journalists could better justify the privacy invasion.”

    Tompkins said he feared the dispute might prompt lawmakers to play to privacy fears.

    “The net effect of the abuse of public records from all sides may well be a public distaste for opening records, which would be the biggest mistake of all,” he said.


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    16 Comments
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    gitgezogt
    gitgezogt
    11 years ago

    They should add my name like this no one will try to break into my house

    Robert
    Member
    Robert
    11 years ago

    i would like to see the NYC permit holders
    i think we would be shocked at how many wealthy liberal anti-gun people have gun permits

    11 years ago

    What’s the point they are making? They want more or less people to own guns? It’s hard to figure… If seeing 44,000 people in your vincinity with guns, perhaps it will be a surge in new gun purchases (cuz its more popular than you originally thought). No one will want to be the house on the map without a gun as an invitation to burglars! I suspect that this very region is running out now to get their homes protected. What a silly move… Have they also considered what this may mean for woman who have gone into hiding and purchased a gun legally to protect themselves from former abusive spouses. Are they willing to take on the cost of their having to relocate and find new work? So irresponsible to make a ridiculous point!

    11 years ago

    they should also print all Democrats phone numbers and emails

    mewhoze
    mewhoze
    11 years ago

    Please list me as having 2 pitbulls, 2 dobermans and a rotweiler

    JamesDean
    JamesDean
    11 years ago

    Since criminals are pretty sophisticated, anyone crook considering the best house for a home invasion will probably check the list. I thank the Journal News for helping to keep my family safe by publishing my name and address.

    PaulinSaudi
    PaulinSaudi
    11 years ago

    I do not understand why they did this.

    11 years ago

    They won’t publish names of sexual abusers now, but started publishing gun owners’ names.
    What’s the point?

    11 years ago

    What is the big tsimmis about? Gun permit holders are a matter of public record, and should be made available to the public. I have an amateur radio license, and my station call number, as well as name and address are also a matter of public record, which can be easily accessed. In the past, the name and address of every NYC Police Officer, was available in the municipal building library, since such information was considered public records.

    11 years ago

    They are trying to force the hand of liberty.