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.
According to the Yonkers PBA, the
report “does more harm than good”. They
would have preferred to see the list of addresses of those arrested for illegal
gun possession in the last few years.
While New York is still working on a
law to make the publication of registered gun owners illegal, Louisiana
Governor Bobby Jindal has just signed a bill to be added to that state’s law to
not only make it illegal for journalists to publish or otherwise identify
people with permits to carry concealed guns, but it makes it illegal for anyone
to publish these names and addresses.
Anyone publishing this information will be charged with a misdemeanor
and will be fined up to $10,000. That
person could also be sentenced to up to six months in jail. The only people exempt from this charge would
be the gun owners themselves, should they choose to let their own information
become public.
This was one of seven bills regarding
guns to be sent for Governor Jindal’s signature. The others include a lifetime concealed
handgun permit bill, and one that allows gun dealers to hold voter
registrations in their stores. There are
also bills that focus on gun access to anyone suffering from mental health
issues.
Not everyone agrees with making the
publication of gun owners illegal. There
are those who would like to know where the guns are so if they were to move,
they would not unknowingly move to a “high gun volume” neighborhood. I’m sure many criminals would also like to
know where they can find guns to use on their “jobs”. Whether you agree with the publications or
not, it is a great invasion of privacy.
The applications for gun permits are public records. It would have served the same purpose to
simply tell citizens where to find these records using the Freedom of
Information Act. That way, anyone
interested will be able to get the information if they were willing to work for
it, but it wouldn’t be so readily available for all to see in a newspaper.
Now more than ever invasion of privacy
is a big concern. Please take a few
minutes to download the free Privacy Guide located at the top of this
page. You will learn how you can keep your
privacy safe both on-line and off.
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