Their offense in the eyes of the reporters and editors? The possession of a legally registered hand gun. The penalty imposed by these soi-disant judges for this crime? An interactive map revealing the names and addresses tens of thousands of people who only followed the law.
Needless to say such an egregious invasion of privacy provoked a deservedly vigorous response. While many have pointed out their flagrant folly in establishing 'safe' areas for criminals to operate, I'd like to point out another failure of foresight on the part of the paper that seems to have gone largely unmentioned.
Not all of those weapons are in the hands of collectors, sportsman, and target shooters. I'd venture a guess that a fair percentage of the guns are registered to those who might someday have occasion to need them. Judges, lawyers, police, probation and parole officers, and corrections officers, either active or retired, who by virtue of doing the jobs we pay them for, have acquired the animus of the worst among us. Add to them all those hiding in fear from abusive former partners, and the witnesses whose testimony has sent criminals to jail. All of their lives have been endangered by the papers depraved indifference to who and where they are, and why they own a gun.
A free press is fundamentally a good thing, but when it proclaims itself the ultimate arbiter of the possessions and privacy of law abiding citizens, and in doing so endangers their lives and families, it has gone way beyond any reasonable interpretation of anyone's "right to know".
In at least one New York county, the administration understands that. Putnam County
"There is the rule of law, and there is right and wrong and the Journal News is clearly wrong," Sant said in a statement. "I could not live with myself if one Putnam pistol permit holder was put in harm's way, for the sole purpose of selling newspapers."
Of course, with the usual insufferable arrogance of the press, the paper will doubtless be contesting that decision. Stay tuned.
