Using the Freedom of Information Act,
the Journal News, the leading newspaper in Westchester County, NY, requested
the records for pistol permits issued in the state. The information they received showed that there
were about 44,000 registered gun owners in Putnam, Rockland and Westchester
counties. Once the information was
obtained, the newspaper published the names and addresses of every one of them. As if this weren’t enough of an invasion of
privacy, along with the list was an image using Google Maps, that had each gun
owner’s address pinpointed.
New York State Senator Greg Ball was
extremely frustrated and angry over this publication. He stated, “It’s just absolutely ridiculous
that the Journal News would do that and they’ve done a lot of boneheaded things
in the past.” He went on to say that he
thought the act of publishing this list would give criminals a “map” to go door
to door trying to get those weapons.
Senator Ball is planning on reintroducing
legislation that would make the publication of this kind of information
illegal. He said, “This isn’t only about
the second amendment, this is about privacy and it’s actually boneheaded for
this editorial board to take law abiding firearm owners and treat them no less
than a level 3 sexual predator.”
A television news crew was sent to one
of the neighborhoods that had a large amount of “red dots”. When they knocked on doors, many people
either did not answer or refused to speak, but some did express surprise and
concern that there were so many guns in their neighborhood.
