In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, newspapers in New York state have run off the rails on the crazy train. Case in point is an article published by The Journal News’ LoHud.com site that turned up a few days ago where every single concealed carry permit holder was tagged with their full name, address, and even plotted on a handy Google Maps app so you (and anyone who wants their gun badly enough) can find them. Which begs the question: why? . . .
What could this newspaper possibly hope to gain from publishing this information?
If they were concerned about the safety of the public, do they not realize that they’ve just given criminals in New York a MASSIVE Christmas present by showing them which houses to target if they want to appropriate some firearms? If the safety of the public is really at issue, do those who have proven themselves to be the most upstanding citizens in their community with pristine criminal records not count? Because by publishing this list, they’ve now incentivized criminals to target these specific addresses.
But the real reason is more insidious. If they were simply looking to shock the public into action for increased gun control, they could have published the list without the names. What they’re doing here is trying to scare anyone else away from applying from concealed carry permits. They’re hoping the list will make these law abiding citizens’ lives a living hell, make them pariahs in polite society, simply because they chose to protect themselves and followed the rules to do it.
The Journal News want these people to be attacked.
This comment in the comments section of the article summed it up best:
So should we start wearing yellow stars of david so the general public can be aware of who we are??
[…]
Great Job, just post our information and give criminals the exact place they can acquire guns and/or ammo. Now I must check the shadows for someone hoping to get the drop and me and get my weapons. We are not Sex Offenders, we should not have our addresses our there for the whole world to see.
This isn’t journalism. This is propaganda and hate speech.
[h/t reddit]