Calling Journal News editors "asinine" for publishing names and addresses of handgun permit owners, a New York state senator says he will introduce legislation that would make such information exempt from public disclosure.
In a statement, Greg Ball said: "The asinine editors at the Journal News, have once again gone out of their way to place a virtual scarlet letter on law abiding firearm owners throughout the region. The immediate elimination of the information posted on the Journal News website is the only way we can ensure the safety and liberty of these New Yorkers. This is clearly a violation of privacy, and needs to be corrected immediately. The same elitist egg heads who use their editorial page to coddle terrorists and criminals are now treating law abiding citizens like level three sexual predators."
The newspaper obtained the information from public records under state freedom of information laws. Similar laws at the federal level and in every state make a range of government records public, from real estate transactions to state employee salaries.
Ball vowed to introduce a bill in the State Senate that would ban disclosure of information in pistol license applications except to law enforcement officials involved in active investigations. Similar legislation has already been proposed in the State Assembly, he said.
A Republican, Ball represents the state's 40th district, which covers an area immediately north of White Plains, where the Journal News is based. The permit holders' names and addresses, published in the form of a searchable map on Saturday, were for Westchester and Rockland counties in suburban New York City. The paper has sought similar information for Putnam County, where Ball lives, and says it will post that information once it becomes available.
Since publishing the information after the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, the newspaper has been slammed by critics who say it endangered the lives of handgun permit owners. But Publisher Janet Hasson defended the decision, saying the public had an interest in knowing whether handguns were in their neighborhoods.
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The newspaper obtained the information from public records under state freedom of information laws. Similar laws at the federal level and in every state make a range of government records public, from real estate transactions to state employee salaries.
Ball vowed to introduce a bill in the State Senate that would ban disclosure of information in pistol license applications except to law enforcement officials involved in active investigations. Similar legislation has already been proposed in the State Assembly, he said.
A Republican, Ball represents the state's 40th district, which covers an area immediately north of White Plains, where the Journal News is based. The permit holders' names and addresses, published in the form of a searchable map on Saturday, were for Westchester and Rockland counties in suburban New York City. The paper has sought similar information for Putnam County, where Ball lives, and says it will post that information once it becomes available.
Since publishing the information after the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, the newspaper has been slammed by critics who say it endangered the lives of handgun permit owners. But Publisher Janet Hasson defended the decision, saying the public had an interest in knowing whether handguns were in their neighborhoods.
This is what happens when you use the open records law just to piss people off, you wind up screwing the pooch for open records in the future. I am a liberal and believe strongly in gun control laws but doing a story like this sets everything back and only prompts a backlash without achieving any greater purpose.
ReplyDeleteThis is really the only honest response. They've put a valuable information source at risk because they decided that cheap pageviews and yellow journalism was the best course of action.
DeleteYou can't use a tool to bully people, double down when there's a public backlash and then expect the public to let you keep that tool. LoHud's done a great disservice to all the real journalists in the area.
There aren't any!
DeleteHow many newsroom people were 'born & raised' in Westchester or Rockland? There hasn't been a publisher since the Brian Donnelly. George Helm & Bill Fanning era, running the once great Westchester Rockland Newspaper group!
Talk about yellow journalism, this one takes the cake!
These peace loving gun owners are making violent threats against reporters who weren't even involved in the story. Heh haters this is about real people with real families. The so called red blooded Americans calling and emailing violent threats are goons and thugs. Think about that as you post negative thoughts on this blog. Good people are afraid for their lives. Think about that haters.
ReplyDeleteThe peaceful law-abiding citizens whose privacy was trashed likewise are real people with real families. Pity nobody thought about that!
DeleteThose gun owners seem awfully threatened by the release of that information. Wonder why?
Delete3:58 THEY are threatening bodily harm!!!! Do you approve of violence? That's a yes or no.
DeleteTurn about is fair play. LoHud didn't single out criminals, they cast a wide net and victimized a large group of people who went out of their way to be in compliance with the law.
DeleteYou can't expect to attack a group that large and experience some blowback. I feel bad for the innocent reporters who weren't involved with the story, but the net was cast wide by LoHud...its unreasonable to expect the repercussion to be felt any less widely.
Keep in mind that this lawmaker has been involved in some very odd episodes and that he'd likely rather there was no Freedom of Information Law at all. Not exactly enlightened.
ReplyDeleteYeah, well Sen. Ball was just on Cavuto and came across as pretty damn impressive. Says we need a national conversation about nut control, not gun control. Well said!
DeleteIf I'm a criminal, I'm going to check that list of gun owners, and I'm going to rob the houses not on the list because the odds are good that they don't have a gun.
ReplyDeleteThere has been a bill floating for a year to prevent this type of thing from happening. Too many liberals in NY to make it happen. It was sponsored by Griffo and the purpose was to not allow FOI requests for hand gun owner info. For a geographic area, but rather name specific. This would prevent a virtual road map for criminals that wanted to put their hands on guns. It was read and passed the senate on june 19, 2012, now sits waiting.
ReplyDeletect to attack a group that large and experience some blowback. I feel bad for the innocent reporters who weren't involved with the story, but the net was cast wide by LoHud...its unreasonable to expect the repercussion to be felt any less wid
ReplyDeleteStupid stories can trigger stupid laws. Well played Westchester, well played.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how some people can be so one sided. People are upset that the innocent journalists working for that subdivision of gannette have had all of their information put out there, and are receiving threats. Why aren't these same people bothered by 8,000 cops names and addresses that were put out there, or bothered by the fact that thiefs now have a roadmap to "aquire" handguns and to "soft targets" for robbing. You ARE whom you associate yourself.....if you didn't rob the bank, but are in the get-away car, you are still guilty by association. These"innocent" journalists still choose to take this company's money and they aren't all quitting or picketing in protest, so untill THEY start turning the thumb screws, they are supporting what their company is doing and therefore will continue to be guilty by association.
ReplyDeleteThis is horrible! I hope that this newspaper gets sued for everything they have for advertising which homes don't have guns in the area- someone is going to be robbed or raped or murdered and this newspaper is telling exactly who to go after because they don't have a gun on the list! We can only hope that people aren't registering their guns and that this thought will be enough of a deterrent to stop the crime that this newspaper is begging for!
ReplyDeletewait, you want to sue a newspaper because it printed information that is readily available to anyone simply by filing an open records request? do you really think if criminals were going to use the gun registration -- which is a public document, open for inspection by all -- as a road map for their criminal activity that they wouldn't have already done it simply by filing an open records request of their own? I am so sick and tired of people being upset when news organizations write stories about information and/or documents that are public information. It's not like that newspaper published private documents. This whole gun rights, 2nd Amendment arm-myself-against-my-big-bad-government thing is out of control. You really need your assault rifle to do battle with your own government? You really think you can win that battle? I'm not against handguns or hunting rifles, but I want to know why anyone needs an assault rifle. No one can explain that, except to say it's "fun" to shoot it at the shooting range. As for making gun registration public record, that's great. What do gun owners have to hide?
ReplyDeleteOne wonders what the feeling might be if records of all who'd had abortions, bought two six-packs of beer, sucked tax dollars from the government dole, ad nauseam?
DeleteWhat does NEED have to do with guns. Do you have to ask, "Mother, may I," for each thing you want to have?