For those of you in Westchester or Rockland counties, have you seen the handgun permit map in the Journal News? Would you use it to check on which of your neighbors have a handgun permit? Are you on the list? What do you think about its publication? Call 212-433-9692 or post here.
Comments [47]
That map is sick. Those people are obviously preparing for war. I am so scared of them, the density is shocking beyond belief. What are they doing?!?! Is this some army in disguise? in Yonkers is it? I can't even see the map these people are not right.
The CDC reports over 55% of gun-related deaths are suicides. The Journal of Criminal Law reports gun violence is more prevelant in poor urban areas - gang violence involving young adult males or juveniles. The FBI reports that 75% of gun homicides involved a handgun.
The NYSDOCS reports that felons who committed murder have the lowest rate of recidivism. Philip J Cook reports felons are more likely to die as homicide victims. (By the way, 77% of all persons arrested in the US were white or Hispanic.) The US homicide rate, among the highest in the industrialized world, is roughly the same as in 1968, with the homicide rate at its lowest level since 1964. According to the General Social Survey gun ownership is down from 40% in 1997 to 36.5% in 2004.
The Sex Offender Registry is no deterrent for sex offenses (NYS DCJS reports 9 out of every 10 sex offenses is NOT committed by a sex offender), is a waste of taxpayers dollars, and actually provides a false sense of security. So goes with publishing the addresses of lawful owners of handguns. Adam Lanza's mother lawfully owned the guns used to massacre children. See if you can find the next Adam Lanza's mother on the Journals Permit Map. Then see if you can confiscate the guns alive.
Sometimes Public Radio is nothing more than an elitist faux-alternative to commercial radio. This is one of those times.
Finding out that so many people in my neighborhood are probably armed will make me a kinder, gentler, person. From now on I promise I will call everyone I meet "sir" or "ma'am". I will also treat their pets in the same respectful way. Some people are touchy about their pets, and I don't want to make anyone even the slightest bit mad. I will hold the door for everyone I see when I go to the store, and when I am driving I will let everyone cut in front of me. Better to be safe than sorry! When I walk on a busy street I will try to position myself one body length behind the person in front of me. And I will watch them very, very closely. One sudden move and I'll hit the deck.
Gun control is the topic of the moment, but why aren't we devoting equal attention to mental health issues, especially in young males. All of our recent shootings Virginia Tech, Tuscon, Aurora and now most recently Newtown, were perpetrated by young males with serious mental health issues that had fallen through the cracks in society. What can we be doing better for early detection and treatment for the mentally ill youth before they perform irrational and tragic acts ? We as a society have failed our youth if we don't reach out and get them the help they need.
A little freaked at the thought that when those WITH permits are published it has, by default, been published that I DON'T/MAY NOT have a gun since I'm NOT on the list. Does that make my family and my home an easier target?
IT IS MESMERIZING TO WATCH A SUCCESS WITH WHICH CRIMINAL SYNDICATES ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS BY INVESTING IN POPULIST POLICIES, BRIBING POLITICIANS, AND THE HELP OF USEFUL IDIOTS.
THEY SUCCEEDED IN PROHIBITION OF DRUGS THUS SECURING THEIR PROFITS.
THEY ARE SUCCEEDING IN DEPRIVING LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS OF THEIR GUNS THUS LEAVING CRIMINALS WITH UNMATCHED GUN POWER.
WHAT'S NEXT?
This appears to be the map
http://www.lohud.com/proint/article/20121223/news01/121221011/map-where-gun-permits-your-neighborhood-?pagerestricted=1
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Incidentally, OnTheMedia will from time to time run articles on how the web's aggregation of published data may or may not violate the original copyright of that publisher.
I’m looking at the maps now:
“Where are the gun permits in your neighborhood?”
(To the tune of that Mister Rogers song)
Yeah, the concentration is interesting. I would have thought there would have been more distribution of pistol permits in rural areas for some reason.
"Publish a map of gay marriages." -- how is that a bad thing??? So, we know where happy people live, and we can celebrate their nuptials? Great for them! Unless you have a problem with gay people being married.
To the caller with concern of other weapons.
Well, yeah, shoving people into the subway tracks kills people too, but it’s not like there’s been an account of twenty people being shoved into an oncoming subway at once.
The conversation is on guns, stop with the, “Oh, but x kills people.”
They all talk about privacy. When it is a public record then there is no privacy being eroded. It is a public record and privacy was lost when it became a public record. Get real and say you just don't want the information to be easy to be seen about you owning a gun or how many houses you may own etc.
I JUST LOVE IT.
BY PUBLISHING THIS MAP THE PAPER PROVIDED AN INVALUABLE SERVICE TO THE BURGLARS. NOW THEY KNOW WHICH HOUSE TO AVOID.
IT IS INTERESTING HOW PEOPLE THINK THEY SAY SOMETHING MAKING SENSE WHEN IT'S NOT:
QUESTION: WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO PUBLISH GUN OWNERS ADDRESSES?
ANSWER: GUNS ARE LETHAL WEAPONS AND I WANT TO KNOW WHO OWN THEM.
NOW YOU KNOW, YOU CHANCES OF BEING BURGLARIZED HAVE INCREASED.
GOOD LUCK.
Fight fire with fire;post the name and addresses of all people diagnosed as mentally ill. After all no stigma should be attached to having a mental disease-we're being indoctrinated to believe.That will kill two birds with one stone-mentally ill are just people too[like legal gun owners and no shame should come from having a legal gun so what's the problem, is the retort by the paper who published their names and addresses] and so too public disclosure of who is mentally ill will help end the stigma.If its good for the goose[guns owners] then its good for the gander[mentally ill people].Heck it's all in the name of a transparent society.
OK, so aggregate sex, marriage records, and addresses. Publish a map of gay marriages. Offensive, right? At some point aggregation is wrong.
The retired detective who called was suggesting that there are countless potential "weapons" in our society. It is shameful, however, that he seems unaware that the U.S. leads the world by a wide margin in gun-related deaths and injuries - a total of 100,000 every year. Thankfully, he is an exception as law enforcement agencies understand that firearms must be more strictly controlled. Last, the prevalence of registered guns in Westchester isn't really surprising in a country where one-third of households have weapons. And then there are all the guns purchased "privately" and illegally. The U.S. is awash in firearms - that's the core problem.
Now that the journal news puts all the addresses of LEGAL GUN OWNERS the burglars will now know what house to burglarize and get a gun or be targeted for a robbery.
Jennifer, secure your weapon
I know what we can register: stupid district attorneys who plea Murder 2 down to Manslaughter. That's why William Spengler was out: after bludgeoning his grandmother to death with a hammer, the Monroe Co DA allowed him to plead to Manslaughter instead. Where can we find that DA?
To all these "law abiding" civilians who have guns in their homes for target practice who would "never" use their weapons to cause harm to other people: I imagine that's how Nancy Lanza would have described herself.
This map is a map for criminals- where to go to steal guns. Stolen guns are used for crimes.
Let not would-be home invaders think: that just because some of us aren't listed as having permits, that there is no long-gun in our particular homes for self-defense.
not all permit owners actually have guns. the journal news is irresponsible. the info is misleading.
We keep talking about law-abiding citizens--- let's not forget that Adam Lanza's mom was a law-abiding citizen and her guns ended up killing people.
If there were a regional or national disaster that threatened utilities, transportation or food supply on a long-term basis, the map of guns is a chilling indicator of how many neighbors could resort to gun use to "protect their own" instead of helping and sharing their resources for the good of the community.
I wonder if the police have immediate access to this aggregated gun ownership info when they are responding to, say, a domestic violence call?
Bogus Statistic: "a gun in the home is 43 times more likely to kill a family member than an intruder."
The "43 times" fallacy is based on a biased sample of subjects with extraordinary rates of arrest, drug abuse, and other dysfunction. One researcher noted Kellerman and his associates "acknowledged that a true risk-benefit consideration of guns in the home should (but did not in their 'calculations') include cases in which... "intruders are wounded or frightened away by the use or display of a firearm...."
Although even Kellerman eventually disavowed his original results, groups like North Carolinians Against Gun Violence continue to pummel his propaganda into the public consciousness.
RE: Guns.
I love cars! I have an old PORSCHE that I maintain myself.
Hunting rifles and shotguns serve a purpose like the cars we drive every day.
May I take a NASCAR RACE CAR out on the street??? I have a driving license...
Same logic.
One of the earlier callers was concerned that his/her weapons might be targeted now that the map makes them known. Is not the reverse also true: that now that criminals know which homes are NOT armed, might they not target them as they are less likely to be shot? Hmmm....
At some point data aggregation becomes stalking.
This does read as an offense against otherwise peaceful individuals.
Like an original caller said, what if undercover agents could be identified from this list? It certainly would make the process much easier.
Let's put the shoe on the other foot: we need a map of all the HIV-positive people. They're all armed with something quite deadly, which has killed many hundreds of thousands of people over the years. We need to know who they are -- for our safety, of course.
For the target shooting enthusiasts. Why not just rent guns for shooting when get to the range?
I don’t really get the mantra repetition of gun owners who “like to shoot.” Who cares? It has no bearing on anything.
I can at least appreciate an argument of a right to self defense.
The Journal News published this list several years ago without the outcry it is receiving this time. What is the difference? -- only the sensitivity due to the Newtown shootings. All this information is publically available, this is not an invasion of privacy. As taxpayers, all of our names, addresses and tax bills are all out there for the public too.
Everyone has a permit had to know when applying that this is PUBLIC information. I don't see how they can have any complaint at all.
I think the Journal News should be commende for this investigative research. The value of it is in revealing the contradictions and hypocrisies of our gun laws. Yes, we should know who has a household filled with long guns and assault weapons, and which of them have been convicted of DWI's, etc. Let's fix the laws and get over the secrecy of gun ownership.
I don't see a link to the map! Where's the map?
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,..."
We need a new approach to gun regulation. The 2nd Admendment does not say anything about hunting or self-protection. So, I don't mind anyone having a machine gun or worse, but it should be illegal to take it out of your house unless you aim to overthrow the government... or at least protect your free State.
I am a Westchester resident of 13 I years. I do not own a gun, but assumed neighbors are hunters.
It is ironic that some gun owners feel MORE vulnerable now. They have claimed having a gun is a deterrent.
Guns have no other purpose than to harm...people should have the right to own one for protection.
This was public information -- thanks go to the Journal news for publishing. I wish someone would do the same for our town in CT.
I have a drivers license...it does not mean I have a car. These are gun permit owners not gun owners.
The handgun permit map is a wonderful idea. Congrats to the Journal News for providing this valuable public service.
I did check and see who had guns. I don't have one and was shocked at the number of gun owners in my area. These are of course only legal guns. I have children and will be more hesitant about sending them to other people's homes, regardless of whether they have a legal permit or not.
in the inverse, will this keep the non gun owners more vulnerable? Living in rural NJ, the majority of my neighbors own guns which increase the uncertainty as to which households are armed, quite a deterint.
The female caller demonstrates just how paranoid gun folks are... She believe's SOMEONE is going to travel to her house to get her GUN? These people are paranoid. It is a matter of public record and if you have a gun we all deserve to know. That is what doing something on the PUBLIC RECORD means . PERIOD If you only use it for target shooting god help the thief and why cant people that target shoot ret a gun at the range. I would like to see how the map overlays with political beliefs and if it supports any stereotypes or busts them
It was so enlightening. I checked my daughters school and there are 5 permit holders across the the street.
A neighbor, who has been hostile to my African-American family in a predominantly Caucasian neighborhood, was on the list too!
So we will definitely not park in front of her house, which she doesn't like.
The bottom line is that the Newton shooter used legal guns kept in suburban home.
This is all public information didn't they know that? Why are they whining?
Ellen, while it is not legal - it is not ethical, someone having a permit for a gun, does not necessarily mean that they have a gun.
There business owners, law enforcement people, and victims of domestic violence who have permits.
Guns are a public health issue. I wish this map had been available when my children were growing up. I would have checked to see if friends' parents had guns and not let them visit those houses.
I've not been a subscriber to Journal News in the 18 years I've lived in Westchester but am thinking about subscribing now to support this kind of work.
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