The U.S. newspaper Journal News is in the middle of a scandal after it published on Monday a list of names and addresses of all persons in Westchester and Rockland Counties (New York State) that have gun permits, according to Huffington Post.
In order to write the article entitled “The gun owner next door: What you don’t know about the weapons in your neighborhood,” the journalist submitted Freedom of Information Law requests. Therefore, as the information is public record, they received the name and exact address of each gun owner.
Moreover, the information obtained was used to create an interactive Google map of gun owners (pistol or revolver) in Westchester and Rockland counties. Putnam county is expected to provide the information at a later date.
On the other hand, the material was accompanied by a note stating that the journalist that made the research for the article is also a gun owner.
“Journal News reporter Dwight R. Worley owns a Smith & Wesson 686 .357 Magnum and has had a residence permit in New York City for that weapon since February 2011,” the source reports.
The decision of the publication sparked numerous criticisms, some readers accusing Journal News that the article endanger persons.
“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?” commented one reader.
“You have judges, policemen, retired policemen, FBI agents — they have permits. Once you allow the public to see where they live, that puts them in harm’s way,” said Paul Piperato, a county clerk in Rockland County.
In response, representatives of Journal News showed that readers “are understandably interested to know about guns in their neighborhoods,” especially after the tragedy at Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Connecticut.
On December 14, Adam Lanza, a 20-year-old young man, opened fire in a school, killing 20 children aged between 5 and 10 years and 6 adults. The attack was the second bloodiest in U.S. history, surpassed only by the one at Virginia Tech in 2007, in which 33 people were killed.
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