The Journal News Lists Names And Addresses Of Rockland And Westchester County Gun Owners

Should the personal information of lawfully registered gun owners be made public?

A newspaper in New York's lower Hudson Valley has unveiled a list of all registered gun owners in Rockland and Westchester Counties, a move that has outraged not only those named in the database, but other lawful gun owners around New York and the nation.

The Journal News' database of gun owners includes the names and addresses of the owners, all on an interactive google map.

Apparently the paper was also going to add Putnam County gun owners to the list but the information on their request is not complete, yet.

The paper's publisher, Janet Hasson - president of the Journal News Media Group - has defended the paper's decision publish the names and addresses, according to CNN.com:

"One of our roles is to report publicly available information on timely issues, even when unpopular. We knew publication of the database (as well as the accompanying article providing context) would be controversial, but we felt sharing information about gun permits in our area was important in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings," she said.

The newspaper also said it had wanted to publish even more information.

"We were surprised when we weren't able to obtain information on what kinds and how many weapons people in our market own," the newspaper said in a statement.

The following are some of the Facebook comments posted below the story:

• THIS IS CRAZY.....
• TOTALLY OUT OF LINE....
• This is the single most irresponsible and dangerous piece of "journalism" I have ever seen....
• Now everyone knows where the LEGAL GUNS are kept, a valuable piece of information for criminals. Why don't you do something helpful, like trying to find out where the ILLEGAL GUNS are kept? That would be helpful to the non-criminal population.

You can read them in full, and find many more here.