NYT > Home Page: Journal News Takes Down Gun Permit Map

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Journal News Takes Down Gun Permit Map
Jan 18th 2013, 23:49

A newspaper has taken down an interactive online map of handgun permit holders in two New York counties that had drawn nationwide anger and prompted threats against its staff, the publisher said in a statement on Friday.

The decision by the paper, The Journal News, to remove the map from its Web site at 5 p.m. came in response to the passage of the state's sweeping gun law this week, which included a provision limiting access to previously public information about gun permit holders.

"While the new law does not require us to remove the data, we believe that doing so complies with its spirit," Janet Hasson, the newspaper's publisher, said in a statement.

Legislators pushed to add the measure to the new state law, which also restricts ownership of certain weapons, in response to the paper's publication after an outcry from gun rights advocates and some law enforcement groups.

The newspaper, based in White Plains, used public records, requested under the state's Freedom of Information Law, to create the map, a clickable collection of the names and addresses of thousands of permit holders in Westchester and Rockland Counties. Since it first appeared the newspaper's Web site in late December, the map has been viewed by 1.2 million people, the paper said.

The paper received a flood of angry phone calls and letters, and opponents posted the home addresses of editors and other staff members online. The fiery reaction prompted the paper this month to hire armed security for its headquarters and for a bureau in Rockland County.

"Guns have certainly become a top issue since the massacre in nearby Newtown, Conn.," Ms. Hasson said. "Sharing as much public information as possible provides our readers with the ability to contribute to the discussion, in any way they wish, on how to make their communities safer."

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