N.Y. newspaper removes handgun permit holder data

The Journal News published a map of residents who have handgun permits in two counties, including Westchester County, pictured. / The Journal News/lohud.com

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. A suburban New York newspaper that outraged gun owners by posting the names and addresses of residents with handgun permits removed the information from its website Friday.

The Journal News took down the data just three days after the state enacted a gun control law that included privacy provisions for permit holders.

The provisions were a reaction to interactive maps the newspaper published on LoHud.com that pinpointed thousands of permit holders in Westchester and Rockland counties.

• Outrage after NY paper publishes names of gun permit holders

Gun rights activists had immediately complained that permit owners' privacy was being violated. They said the map could guide burglars to their homes while police groups claimed the map could lead ex-convicts to the officers who had put them away.

The addresses of some Journal News staffers were posted online, and threats were called in to the newspaper's offices. The newspaper hired armed guards in response.

Janet Hasson, president and publisher of The Journal News Media Group, said in an emailed statement, "While the new law does not require us to remove the data, we believe that doing so complies with its spirit."

She said the maps had been viewed nearly 1.2 million times since they were published Dec. 23. The newspaper sought the records under the state Freedom of Information Law after the Dec. 14 elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman who had killed his mother at home killed 20 first-graders and six educators and then committed suicide.

The maps remained online late Friday but could no longer be manipulated to find names and addresses.

State Sen. Greg Ball, the most vocal opponent of the posting, said, "Thank God The Journal News has finally realized the error in their judgment and done the right thing. ... I am proud to have passed legislation keeping The Journal News from doing this ever again."

On Tuesday, as part of a gun control bill, the state Legislature passed and Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed new regulations that give permit holders several ways to opt out of the public record.

Applicants can ask to be exempted because they are police officers or served on criminal-case juries or are victims of domestic violence. They also can just say they might be subjected to harassment.

Hasson said Friday, "One of our core missions as a newspaper is to empower our readers with as much information as possible on the critical issues they face, and guns have certainly become a top issue since the massacre in nearby Newtown, Conn."

[littleredtop]

TOO LATE! The damage has been done. I hope there are thousands of law suits resulting from their unbelievably irresponsible act. All formats of the news media should be licensed, required to conform to certain standards pertaining to truth, ethics and common sense, and, most importantly, closely regulated.

[bigarmedbear]

I suggest that all of you anti gun people, simply put your obama signs back in your yard along with a no gun sign.

I want you to express your right of free speech to denounce weapons, and continue to mindlessly blame an inanimate object and refuse to accept that a human did evil things. You do not harp on hammers, baseball bats, kitchen knives, cars, swimming pools or trampolines, yet they are responsible for more deaths than firearms. You refuse to admit that you who are anti gun are simply afraid of guns. You fear them. You are scared. Most sheep are cowards. I will keep my guns. I will continue to carry my gun daily. If you want me to give up my guns, then you will need to give up your alcohol, stop supporting abortions, stop smoking, stop using drugs, and for the most part just stop breathing, as you are expelling CO2 and adding the to alleged global warming. Just move to Canada.

[Kimbakat]

Your first mistake is to assume ALL obama supporters are anti-gun. Wrong.

You are right to address the REAL issue of mental health is involved. Guns don't kill people...people kill people.

And that said..no one is trying to take YOUR gun away. They are trying to take machines guns that can spray 100 rounds in seconds.

The other mistake is that you somehow said if you are going to give up something then everyone else on the "other side" who you call cowards should give up other things that do not cause harm to others.

Humans are responsible for what they do whether it's drinking, drugs or family planning. The tools for which they do them are not responsible EVER!!!!

[Zardoz333]

Well said. Your my hero, man. The lazy and cowardly "sheep" are always looking for quick and easy fixes when it is really a mental health issue which will time a lot of time and effort. Our founding father's emphasied liberty above all else and these knee-jerk reactionists are willing to slowly give it all up for a false sense of security.

[erasmus111]

"The Journal News has finally realized the error in their judgment..."


That is not why they took it down.

They had every right to print it.

If you choose to own a weapon that is MADE TO KILL, then everyone has a right to know who you are. It's no different than needing to know where a pedophile lives. It might be different if you didn't have so many mentally ill people having access to guns, but you do!

[bigarmedbear]

You , Erasmus111, are a classic ID-10T. You are obviously a kool aid drinking, liberal sheep. You only have the right to express your opinion because people like me have stood between you and the people who wish to use your corpse as a drag toy. We protect you and your ilk with weapons. Weapons made to kill. It would be pointless to make a gun that fired marshmallows. But you and your fellow sheep are just cowards, you will not fight your own country, you bad mouth those that do, and you demand and whine and cry entitlement. I am ashamed that you are an American. I will however, uphold my oath and protect your cowardly sniveling whiny backside from those that wish to visit evil and horror upon you. Good day.

[SUZAMBA]

WOW. Least see: Cars kill, knives kill, hammers kill as do ice picks, and the list is endless. Seems to me, that if someone is hell bend on killing, they will find a way with what ever they can.
So we must post the names of all that own such weapons, that could and have killed is the past? Not only do the mentally ill kill as you claim, but people kill just to kill.

[KansasCity-2012]

If the NRA can publish commercials with Obama's children to advance their cause, then a newspaper can publish the names and addresses of weapons owners.

If you want civility, then it must be a two way street!

[NotLobamatomized]

The newspaper doesn't want to publish the name of non gun owners because they are sitting ducks! But it's too late now, the bad guy figured it out by now thanks to the newspaper.

obama have been using his daughters for years to advance his political ambitions, your selective outrage is laughable.

[skeezix06]

The new attack by the NRA is that the article endangered non-gun homes. Not that they're worried about the non-gun homes because they aren't. Their previous tactic of claiming that it endangered homes with guns didn't work. If you cast your eyes down through the thread, though, you can see that not everyone got the memo defining the change in tactics yet.

[angelofurnightmare]

This is exactly why people like me have issues with having to register our guns...the government and the nuts out there have information on how to find me...*** you want tighter gun laws then don't violate the privacy of those of us who are trying to do the right thing and put us in danger

[skeezix06]

If you're a law-abiding citizen, the government already has information on how to find you.

[ammo17]

what they should do is put a pin in any home with a mentally disturbed person who is not getting the proper mental help.that should scare everyone or is that discrimination.i cannot believe how many people believe this garbage that comes out of d.c. the most corrupt and dysfunctioal government in our history.75% of our country believe this and yet they still believe these money grubbing lobbyist loving hypocrites.

[SUZAMBA]

And how would you define a mentally ill person??

[LovePool]

Everyone was angry the paper posted the map. The title of this article makes it sound like only gun owners were irritated.

[east_coast1]

There was no legitimate newsworthy reason to publish those addresses. It was done simply to make gun owners uneasy by a anti-gun newspaper. They also hoped the controversy would increase sales/revenues. What they did was to provide a shopping list for criminals of where to find guns and to also tell them which homes were not protected by a gun. They put the public at a greater risk due to their actions which is irresponsible. The state, by allowing gun permits to be public information is as much to blame.

[nohater]

hope the newspaper is sued and loses to the tune of millions and millions. the newspaper was irresponsible and should cease to exist. at the very least, the editor, the journalists, others involved in publishing the list should be fired immediately.

[skeezix06]

The flip side of the coin is that the newspaper employees should sue those who tried to terrorize and intimidate them. What they did was public information. What was done to the employees in return was wrong and prosecution should be considered if they wish to push the issue.

America should not be a country where threats, terror, and intimidation are allowed to rule.

[Jennifer C Rose]

Information obtained by FOIA applications may not be used for profit. That's another venue that could be used to sue The Journal News. The publication of that map was strictly for profit. They sold ads and sold newspapers and bumped revenue from their website. They can say it was a public service, but the real service would have been maps to people who had been convicted of violent crimes, people who are mentally and violently unstable, and any burglars who might live in their readership area. Targeting only the residences (and in many cases, PAST residences) of people who had legally obtained a handgun permit only shows where the law abiding citizens live. And it doesn't show anyone who owns a rifle, shotgun or crossbow. Open carry laws would make it so much easier for everyone to see who actually owns a firearm. An inaccurate map is just for profit, and to aid burglars who want to know if the house they're breaking into might be unprotected.

[nohater]

hope the newspaper is sued and loses to the tune of millions and millions. the newspaper was irresponsible and should cease to exist. at the very least, the editor, the journalists, others involved in publishing the list should be fired immediately.