Media Intimidation of Lawful Firearm Owners

Has any major media outlet spoken out against the Journal News? Not just reporting their act (and publishing a link to the map while they are at it) but actually taking Journal News to task?
 
To whom is this directed? To Employees of Gannett that published thousands of names and addresses wholesale, not knowing a thing about any of them and for absolutely no valid public service reason or the people that have been a target of said employees?

If you are speaking to the latter (of which I am not yet one as I live a couple of counties north) Please tell me why it should not be demonstrated to the Journal News staff what they are doing to others. They have had plenty of opportunity to rethink their position and have chosen not to do so.

I ask this because I am of two minds. On on side I agree with you on "stooping" to their level while on the other hand I believe there has to be consequences to irresponsible actions. This may be the only way to illustrate to these irresponsible "journalists" what they are doing to others.

Isn't it obvious, from the amount of detail? He's saying how *awful* it would be :rolleyes: if someone here signed-up the journalist, editor, and publisher for all kinds of magazine subscriptions, bizarre mailing lists, jelly of the month clubs, etc, etc -- basically anything with a "FREE TRIAL OFFER".
 
First off what the Journal News did was wrong and unexcusable. Second, it's useful to look at exactly what they did closely.

They say:

The map indicates the addresses of all pistol permit holders in Westchester and Rockland counties. Each dot represents an individual permit holder licensed to own a handgun — a pistol or revolver. The data does not include owners of long guns — rifles or shotguns — which can be purchased without a permit. Being included in this map does not mean the individual at a specific location owns a weapon, just that they are licensed to do so.

So someone at the address at one time or the other had or has a permit for a handgun. The paper pretends to publish this info as a "public service". The information, they say is a matter of public record.

A good deal of things are public record. The cost of your home, how many children you have, are you married or divorced, arrest records, etc. Why not publish all of this at random? Because it's an invasion of privacy on such a scale that it becomes a threat, an invitation to stalking or worse. It's a transparent attempt to paint the owners of guns as threats for no other reason then that they own them.

It's an attempt to intimidate gunowners and their families. To make them pariahs. Social untouchables. It's part of an effort to create a climate of fear among gun owners and among those who are anti gun, neutral or ignorant on the matter of the 2nd Amendment and the Bill of Rights. If all gun owners are potential killers of children and potential purveyors of mayhem then it's in the interests of society to keep them on a tight leash ain't it?

Feinsteins's latest proposal would make it retroactive that owners of AR type guns bought after the "Assault Weapons Ban" would have to fess up that they owned such weapons and register as the owners of such, along with any future owners. It would become a matter of public record. Law enforcement would have that list. So could the media obtain it.

Millions of Americans grow up worried, afraid really, that their names will get on a FBI or government list somewhere. That it could effect your job, if you get a bank loan, your family somehow. There is a long history of the Feds using such information against people, particularly those with minority opinions. This action by the Journal News shows there is reason to fear and promotes that fear.

The more power cops and the politicians that back them are given the more they want. It always happens that way. Let me see your papers please! Stop and Frisk, etc.

Also it's inexcusable to publish the home addresses, etc. of the folks who work for that newspaper! It's wrong and a violation of their rights as well.

There is much more than the 2nd Amendment at stake here.

tipoc
 
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On Wed morning I believe, I watched the broadcast news morning shows, to see what the tone of the MSM was on guns.

On CBS they basically condemned the action of publishing the addresses. They had a current, or former, I can't remember which, assistant NYPD Chief, he made the point that 40% of the published list are current and former NYPD officers. And of course the points were made about burglary.

It would be something indeed, if the next school shooter steals his neighbor's gun, while they're on vacation, because he knew they had one from the list. They didn't raise that possibility on the TV, but the Chief made the point, that the most likely would be burglars, would be people who lived in the same neighborhood and knew their neighbors were gone.

I know I find this sort of thing despicable myself, especially from the same kinds of people that are probably against a sex offender registry. Oh no, the poor little child molesters have rights, lawful gun owners on the other hand are potential child killers, it their twisted view.
 
I tried checking this AM to see if the map was still up. Yep it's still up. I also found that The Journal News is running a pole entitled "Weigh in on gun legislation in New York state" which asks the question :
State Sen. Greg Ball has proposed legislation that would bar the public from learning who the gun permit holders are in their communities. Good idea?

I find it interesting that 89.12% (172 out of 193 votes cast) have voted yes.
 
The Anti's are crying out that gun owners need to better secure our guns from people that might want to steal them to do criminal acts and then they do things in which makes it easier for those same criminals to find these guns??

What a smart group! Sarcastic
 
This this thread is an embarrassment I think.

The real issue here is that many women who are in fear for their lives from stalkers, former family members, people from former relationships arm themselves as the police can not protect them. They then go to great lengths to hide their current address. This publication has pointed out where they live opening the door for stalkers to find them.

The stalkers are violently unpredictable as noted by the Gloucester shooting the other day and the sea of violent crime against women that follows them everywhere. The real issue here is telling violently unstable members of society where their potential victims are hiding.
 
I read the article that was linked to the map. Follow it if you wish, but be prepared to have your mind boggled (http://lohud.us/W1Ybx8). Mine certainly was.

In an article that was trying to defend the publication of the map as “the public has a right to know where the guns are”, they led with a tragedy about an insane old man shooting a neighbor in the head.

“What was equally shocking for some was the revelation that the mentally disturbed 77-year-old man had amassed a cache of weapons — including two unregistered handguns and a large amount of ammunition — without any neighbors knowing.”

Yes, that’s correct... it’s important to publish where the LEGALLY HELD weapons are, so we will be safer from the UNREGISTERED ones. They even had the following quote: “Would I have bought this house knowing somebody (close by) had an arsenal of weapons? No, I would not have.”

Un-beeee-leivable.

The neighbor to whom the quote was attributed wanted to remain anonymous “because it’s not known whether the gunman... will return home or be sent to prison.”

Soooooo... let me get this straight. This guy is too scared to let his name appear in an article about the story, because he doesn’t know if a lunatic that just attempted murder and has unregistered weapons may just be sent home, feels that the solution to this situation is to publish a map of registered gun owners.

Oh my. I don’t know what else to say.
 
This isn't a new tactic. Newspapers in Indiana and Illinois have done the same thing by publishing the names and addresses of License to Carry a Handgun and FOID card holders respectively. In both cases, they were dealt with through new state laws making such information no longer public record. I suspect that, given the public outcry over such practices in NY (last I saw 89% of people disapproved), I predict that it will be dealt with in a similar manner as it was in IN and IL.
 
Nothing new. The liberal media is ALWAYS trying to intimidate lawful gunowners. I simply refuse to be intimidated and fight back in every way that I can.
 
Sigh - please drop the liberal media phraseology. HOW many times must we say that. Given significant numbers of folks who are liberal support gun rights, blanket statements serve no one.

Then a thread gets diverted into a I'm liberal who likes guns vs. I demand conservative ideological purity to be part of the gun club.

We DON'T do that. Take the hint or begone.
 
WeblyMKV said:
Newspapers in Indiana and Illinois have done the same thing by publishing the names and addresses of License to Carry a Handgun and FOID card holders respectively. In both cases, they were dealt with through new state laws making such information no longer public record.

Ohio had the same problem. Journalists opposed to the new concealed carry law were entitled to have the full roster of concealed carry permits printed by each sheriff and provided to the journalists.

After this abuse continued for a couple of years, Ohio left information the public record, i.e. anyone is entitled to view it, but any of the copying of the information needed to be performed manually. This minor obstacle appears to have curbed the abuse.
 
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After this abuse continued for a couple of years, Ohio left information the public record, i.e. anyone is entitled to view it, but any of the copying of the information needed to be performed manually. This minor obstacle appears to have curbed the abuse.

So ..... only a really dedicated, or well funded, or both ..... organization can pull this crap in Ohio. I have a feeling that such is going on right now .... the scribes are just not finished with the list yet......
 
They did this briefly in Colorado to CCW holders, it was viewed as an abuse, the legislature acted and now only law enforcement has access to the list of CCW holders
 
It really has little to do with "liberal" and "conservative", or D vs R. It's really a class issue. The political elite and the self-proclaimed intellectuals don't want the Hoi polloi to have the any means of resistance. Even if they are not exploiting the underclasses, they reserve the right to do so.

I think that's another reason the constitution (Article I, Section 9) prohibits titles of nobility.
 
Journal News Hires Armed Guards

Well, well, well looky here. Hypocrisy so thick you can cut it with a knife.

The Journal News of West Nyack, N.Y., has hired armed security guards to defend its offices after receiving a torrent of phone calls and emails responding to the paper's publication of the names and addresses of area residents with pistol permits.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/01/journal-news-hires-armed-security-guards-153103.html

No threats, or anything illegal transpired. The staff of the Journal News was merely alarmed by the negative response they received.:p
 
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