WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — A New York newspaper that unleashed a public outcry after it published the names and addresses of residents with pistol permits is being protected by armed guards.
The guards have been posted at its White Plains headquarters and in a satellite office in West Nyack since last week, publisher Janet Hasson said. “The safety of my staff is my top priority,” she told The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/10QbMyS).
In December, the Journal News published online maps with the names and addresses of pistol permit holders in Rockland and Westchester counties, information it sought from public records after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
The newspaper’s database, which included an interactive map on the Gannet Co.-owned newspaper’s website lohud.com, sparked a torrent of criticism from across the country. Some said the publication was an invasion of privacy and could potentially put gun owners at risk. Others compared it to lists of sexual predators or other criminals, and said it was tantamount to presenting gun permit holders as wrongdoers.
Hasson said the newspaper knew the publication would be controversial, but that “we felt sharing information about gun permits in our area was important in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings.”
Neighboring Putnam County this week rejected the Journal’s request for permit data, after earlier saying it needed more time to compile the information. The newspaper hasn’t responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press on the withholding.
Putnam County Clerk Dennis Sant cited safety as his reason for not complying.
“Our world today is far different than it was only a few years ago,” Sant said in a statement, explaining that the Internet and social media make it easy for personal information to be exposed.
As an example of the risks he considered, Sant said he was contacted by a significant number of permit holders who have protection orders against other individuals and now own guns to protect themselves.
Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell supported Sant’s denial. A news conference to discuss the move was slated for later Wednesday.
Go to the map they published, zoom in on some affluent areas around golf courses, and you’ll see what the criminals can now see … very few gun permits, lots of easy pickings for home invasions.
This is absolutely insane that a newspaper would do such an intrusive and potentially dangerous thing to the people that support their business and the community they support. It is an idiotic thing to publish the names of people that are ‘law abiding’ to condemn the law breakers or push forward their agenda. The people that participate in these mass shootings are not using legal fire arms. What is wrong with this country is that the laws are upheld by the people that practice personal choice in who is in violation of laws and who is not in terms of who is prosecuted and who is not. If you break the law – you pay the price!!! You shouldn’t get away with it because you are the nephew or a friend. If someone is related to the person breaking the law, then a different officer should be in charge. Conflict of interest.
The fact that the paper outed law abiding citizens is reprehensible. I have been in a situation where my life was in danger and if someone would have outed my potential to defend myself or not, my life could have been the price I paid for a total lack of ethic or consideration for the potential effect on any person’s safety. The people in charge of this article ought to be fired because they have shown clearly that they are unqualified to be in that position and only interested in promoting their own agenda.