A New York newspaper is being criticized for publishing names and addresses of legal handgun owners.
The Journal News in New York published a story Sunday with an interactive
map , which shows where legal handgun owners live.
Each gun owner is depicted with a red dot.
If we did that in Oklahoma, we’d still be one of the reddest states in the union.
But, seriously, this does add a dimension to the gun rights debate about what residents need to know to be safe.
In Oklahoma, gun ownership records are all private, meaning this isn't even an option for media.
Both representatives from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the National Rifle Association denounced the New York newspaper’s decision.
That's something considering those groups agree on literally nothing.
Jonahan Lowy, legal advisor for the Brady Campaign, in a
CNN interview , said publicizing names of legal gun owners is the wrong focus.
Lowy said it is not right to stigmatize every law-abiding gun owner, but there needs to be a concentration on “sensible policies” such as background checks on all gun sales.
While he said the newspaper showed a “lack of judgment,” he said some information should be public.
He cited a Florida newspaper’s investigation that found 1,400 people who pleaded guilty to felonies were issued concealed carry permits.
Florida's response was to make that information secret from now on.
Andrew Arulanandam, NRA director of public affairs, said there is no public service in publishing the database.
“People obtain permits for personal safety reason. It is incredibly ignorant and irresponsible for the newspaper to publish a map of which houses have firearms in them.”
The
story accompanying the graphic outlines the pros and cons of knowing who owns guns.
A person in the story was stunned a 77-year-old man living next door and known to be mentally unstable was able to buy multiple guns.
That elderly man shot and killed a neighbor without provocation.
The argument is that a person should have the right to know if a neighbor or family member is amassing weapons.
On the other side, gun owners fear such lists will give criminals a map of where to break in to steal weapons.
Also, they argue those without guns would also be targeted by criminals as easy prey.
The newspaper was able to use its state open records laws to get the name and address of gun owners, but not the type or number of weapons in the home.
It published a similar story in 2006.
Emotions about guns weren’t as high as now – right after the deadly shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school – and social media didn’t play a significant role in news delivery.
The National Rifle Association has successfully staved off the creation of a national gun registry, arguing that if a government knows who has a gun, it will eventually take them away.
Registries are not a new concept, with some working well and others not making a difference.
It’s worth examining those our government already maintains.
Has the state list of allergy drug users eliminated methamphetamine addiction and production?
Has the national DNA database of criminals helped close unsolved cases or make arrests?
Are there less sex offenders now with a list of them? Has it cut down on sex offense recidivism?
The Journal News Media Group’s president and publisher, Janet Hasson, released this statement:
“Frequently, the work of journalists is not popular. 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.”
