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A newspaper in New York has received a wave of criticism from its readers after publishing the names and addresses of all of the individuals with handgun or pistol permits in its coverage area.

Hundreds of residents in New York’s Westchester and Rockland counties were surprised to find their names and addresses listed on a map posted by The Journal News on Sunday. Users can click any dot on the map to see which of their neighbors has a permit for a gun.

The map sparked more than 500 comments from readers within a day of its appearance on the website, many of them voicing outrage at the paper’s decision to make the information public.

“This is CRAZY!! why in the world would you post every licensed gun owner information?? What do you hope to accomplish by doing this. This is the type of thing you do for sex offenders not law abiding gun owners. What next? should i hang a flag outside my house that says I own a gun? I am canceling my subscription with your paper today!!!” said commenter Curtis Maenza.

“How about a map of the editorial staff and publishers of Gannett and Journal News with names and addresses of their families…,” wrote commenter George Thompson.

All of the names and addresses were compiled through public records. The paper also requested the information from Putnam County, which is still compiling the records for publication, according to The Journal News’ website.

In a statement to ABC News, The Journal News said its readers “are understandably interested to know about guns in their neighborhoods,” because of the conversation about gun control on its website after the shooting in Newtown, Conn., last week.

“We obtained the names and addresses of Westchester and Rockland residents who are licensed to own handguns through routine Freedom of Information law requests. We also requested information on the number and types of guns owned by permit holders, but officials in the county clerks offices in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties maintained that those specifics were not public record,” the statement read.

“New York’s top public-records expert, Robert Freeman, disagrees,” it added.

The paper declined to answer further questions about the map.

∞∞∞ wrote:Two major security issues here:

-It tells bad dudes which houses are unarmed.
and/or
-It tells bad dudes which houses to steal weapons from.

I can't think of any positive reason to publish the map. Terrible "journalism."

HI54UNI wrote:

∞∞∞ wrote:Two major security issues here:

-It tells bad dudes which houses are unarmed.
and/or
-It tells bad dudes which houses to steal weapons from.

I can't think of any positive reason to publish the map. Terrible "journalism."

+1

DSUrocks07 wrote:If this were a map of all the black families in a neighborhood or where every same sex married couple lived or where every family that was living below the poverty line, everyone would be "up in arms" about it, no pun intended.

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk 2

ALPHAGRIZ1 wrote:Criminals will be happy now that they know what houses to rob and which ones not too.

The fu*king left needs some lead poisoning...........

D1B wrote:Hope all papers do this. It's important to know who the psycho **** conks are in the neighborhood.

BlueHen86 wrote:

HI54UNI wrote:
+1

+2

Col Hogan wrote:

D1B wrote:Hope all papers do this. It's important to know who the psycho **** conks are in the neighborhood.

Don't get your hopes up, sweet cheeks...most states have banned publishing these lists...only the irresponsible ones still allow it...

BDKJMU wrote:

Col Hogan wrote:
Don't get your hopes up, sweet cheeks...most states have banned publishing these lists...only the irresponsible ones still allow it...

Yep. Guarantee the ones that still allow it are all in blue states.

houndawg wrote:

BDKJMU wrote:
Yep. Guarantee the ones that still allow it are all in blue states.

Wrong as usual.

Virginia, North Carolina both have done it.....

Same principle as publishing sex offenders addresses...

houndawg wrote:

BDKJMU wrote:
Yep. Guarantee the ones that still allow it are all in blue states.

Wrong as usual.

Virginia, North Carolina both have done it.....

Same principle as publishing sex offenders addresses...

ALPHAGRIZ1 wrote:Criminals will be happy now that they know what houses to rob and which ones not too.

The fu*king left needs some lead poisoning...........

Col Hogan wrote:

houndawg wrote:

Wrong as usual.

Virginia, North Carolina both have done it.....

Same principle as publishing sex offenders addresses...

Sex offenders have committed a crime...CWP holders prevent crime...

Another swing and a miss by the resident Donks...

In Virginia, Publishing CWP holders names and addresses was banned by a Democrat, just for the record...in 2009...

"Gov. Tim Kaine signed a bill last week that removes a State Police database of concealed weapon permit holders from public access in Virginia.

The bill protects "from public disclosure permittee names and descriptive information held by the Department of State Police for purposes of entry into the Virginia Criminal Information Network," according the bill's summary statement.

According to the text of the bill, the personal information of the permittees will only be available to police personnel for the purpose of investigation. Only general statistical information would be available to the public.

The bill was introduced by David Nutter, a delegate from House district 7, and signed by Kaine on March 27.

The bill largely came about after the Roanoke Times legally obtained the database of permittees from the Department of State Police and published it to its Web site in what they described as "an illustration of the Freedom of Information Act." An almost immediate outcry from permit holders caused them to quickly change their minds."

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/ ... it-holders" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

houndawg wrote:

Col Hogan wrote:
Sex offenders have committed a crime...CWP holders prevent crime...

Another swing and a miss by the resident Donks...

In Virginia, Publishing CWP holders names and addresses was banned by a Democrat, just for the record...in 2009...

"Gov. Tim Kaine signed a bill last week that removes a State Police database of concealed weapon permit holders from public access in Virginia.

The bill protects "from public disclosure permittee names and descriptive information held by the Department of State Police for purposes of entry into the Virginia Criminal Information Network," according the bill's summary statement.

According to the text of the bill, the personal information of the permittees will only be available to police personnel for the purpose of investigation. Only general statistical information would be available to the public.

The bill was introduced by David Nutter, a delegate from House district 7, and signed by Kaine on March 27.

The bill largely came about after the Roanoke Times legally obtained the database of permittees from the Department of State Police and published it to its Web site in what they described as "an illustration of the Freedom of Information Act." An almost immediate outcry from permit holders caused them to quickly change their minds."

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/ ... it-holders" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

To the back of the class with you, sir, the correct answer is: yes, the information was readily available to the general public.

BDKJMU wrote:

houndawg wrote:
To the back of the class with you, sir, the correct answer is: yes, the information was readily available to the general public.

No you stupid donk, the correct answer is no. We're not talking about the past. Try to keep up. We're talking about RIGHT NOW. And RIGHT NOW that info can't be published in VA...

houndawg wrote:

Col Hogan wrote:
Sex offenders have committed a crime...CWP holders prevent crime...

Another swing and a miss by the resident Donks...

In Virginia, Publishing CWP holders names and addresses was banned by a Democrat, just for the record...in 2009...

"Gov. Tim Kaine signed a bill last week that removes a State Police database of concealed weapon permit holders from public access in Virginia.

The bill protects "from public disclosure permittee names and descriptive information held by the Department of State Police for purposes of entry into the Virginia Criminal Information Network," according the bill's summary statement.

According to the text of the bill, the personal information of the permittees will only be available to police personnel for the purpose of investigation. Only general statistical information would be available to the public.

The bill was introduced by David Nutter, a delegate from House district 7, and signed by Kaine on March 27.

The bill largely came about after the Roanoke Times legally obtained the database of permittees from the Department of State Police and published it to its Web site in what they described as "an illustration of the Freedom of Information Act." An almost immediate outcry from permit holders caused them to quickly change their minds."

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/ ... it-holders" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

To the back of the class with you, sir, the correct answer is: yes, the information was readily available to the general public.

houndawg wrote: Same principle as publishing sex offenders addresses...