Newspaper Sparks Outrage for Publishing Names, Addresses of Gun Permit Holders

An interactive map showing the names and addresses of all handgun permit holders in New York’s Westchester and Rockland counties has infuriated many readers since it was posted Saturday on a newspaper’s website.

The map, published by The Journal News, allows readers to zoom in on red dots that indicate which residents are licensed to own pistols or revolvers. It had prompted more than 1,700 comments as of Wednesday morning.

Blue dots indicate permit holders who “have purchased a firearm or updated the information on a permit in the past five years.”

“So should we start wearing yellow Stars of David so the general public can be aware of who we are??” one commenter wrote.

“This is crazy!” wrote another.

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Some of those responding threatened to cancel their subscriptions or boycott the publication.

“I hope you lose readers now,” one wrote.

But the newspaper says it 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,” Michael Meaney, morning local editor, said in a statement.