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Newspaper That Published The Names & Addresses of Gun Owners Hires Armed Guards

Jan. 1, 2013 11:22pm Becket Adams

The Gannett-owned newspaper that caused a stir by printing the personal information of registered gun owners in New York’s Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties has discovered that it’s no fun having your personal information exposed to the entire world.

Responding to a national backlash over their decision to publish an interactive map with the names and addresses of registered gun owners, the editorial staff at Gannett’s Journal News has hired armed guards to watch over their building.

“A Clarkstown police report issued on December 28, 2012, confirmed that The Journal News has hired armed security guards from New City-based RGA Investigations and that they are manning the newspaper’s Rockland County headquarters … through at least tomorrow, Wednesday, January 2, 2013,” the County Times reports.

Journal News Rockland Editor Caryn A. McBride said she was genuinely surprised to discover that publishing a map with the names and addresses of gun owners would result in “negative correspondence,” that is, an “avalanche” of angry phone calls and emails, police reports note.

“Due to apparent safety concerns, the newspaper then decided to hire RGA Investigations to provide armed personnel to man the location,” the County Times report adds.

But even though they’ve successfully outraged thousands of private citizens, there have been no problems reported at the Journal News headquarters “despite the massive influx of phone calls and emails,” Private investigator Richard Ayoob told the Clarkstown Police Friday.

“McBride had filed at least two reports with the Clarkstown Police Department due to perceived threats. However, the police did not find the communications in question actually threatening,” the report adds. “Incident-Report 2012-00033099 describes McBride telling police she was worried because an email writer wondered ‘what McBride would get in her mail now.’”

The email did not “constitute an offense” and didn’t have an actual threat, police said.

It all started after Journal News decided to publish a map with the names and addresses of legal gun owners in two New York counties.

The map was included in an article entitled “The gun owner next door: What you don’t know about the weapons in your neighborhood,” that was released shortly after a shooting spree in Newtown, Conn., claimed 26 lives, including 20 children.

“Some 44,000 people are licensed to own pistols in the three counties, the newspaper said. Owners of rifles and shotguns do not need permits,” Reuters notes.

And even after a pro-Second Amendment blogger retaliated by publishing the personal information of Journal News staffers, the Gannet newspaper decided to double down and release even more personal information on New York permit holders.

Journal News Gets Freaked Out Over Response to Gun Map, Hires Armed Guards

After the newspaper launched its ‘gun owners’ map, pro-Second Amendment blogger Robert Cox retaliated by releasing a map with the names & addresses of ‘Journal News’ employees.

“Further names and addresses will be added as they become available to a map originally published on December 24 in the White Plains, New York-based Journal News,” the newspaper announced last week.

Sen. Greg Ball (R-N.Y.) has announced plans to introduce legislation that would keep the names and addresses of gun owners private except to law enforcement.

“The asinine editors at the Journal News have once again gone out of their way to place a virtual scarlet letter on law abiding firearm owners throughout the region,” the senator’s website reads.

No word yet on whether Journal News plans to release the names and addresses of its armed guards.

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Featured image courtesy AP.

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Comments (256)

BlueStarMom
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 3:57am
The thing about newspapers is they have to have advertisers and subscribers. I suspect there are other papers in the area who would accept new business. Those offices that are protected by armed guards now will soon be occupied by a business that respects their customers.

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joehanx2
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 3:54am
are the armed guards names and addresses in the paper . if not why. and how do they feel about it

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milez5
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 3:54am
If indeed Ms. McBride was genuinely surprised by the backlash that publishing the names and addresses of people who had lawful permits to own a gun produced, well then, I think that tells us everything that we need to know about her.

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breedofthe45
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 3:36am
This is the irony of ironies, the mother of them all, the hypocritical Socialist mind is beyond redemption. This is why Socialists[let's call these Democrats what they are since is ridiculous to ignore it anymore] have to cheat to win an argument. Let’s say we go by the New World Democratic Order these Socialists want all of us to go by, what that means is that we will have to just listen to these imbeciles and obey and that’s it? If they want our Guns we must give it to them while they keep their Guns just in case we ‘The Cattle’ turn on the Socialist ‘Ranchers’? Do as they say but don’t you dare tell them what to do? The annoying Christians are not the moral police anymore since these godless antisemitic Socialists turn out to be more than Hypocrites that even Atheists want us to do as Jesus said and share our wealth with them before some “Camel get’s through the eye of some needle”, i guess nobody is a better Christian than an Atheist who practice and understands the Bible better than God, Moses and Jesus himself [Muhammad not included since these Atheists have no problem with Allah the Arab Deity and his Jewish-Leviticus anti-gay Law isn't it?]
Let’s really listen to these antisemitic Socialists, don’t you people think we had enough of these backstabbing Marxists groupies who keep saying they are our friends? They want us to submit body and soul to them? is not only Guns, is our Children too, our money too,even submit to our enemies to prove to them our dev

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thereyougoagain
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 2:48am
Really???

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betterpart
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 2:45am
One of the pathetic things on the newspaper’s part is that these fancy and hypocritical liberals also published the names and addresses of people who are in protective hiding such as abused women and children. Thanks to the newspaper, these under-the-radar folks are twice victims.

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Talmid of Yeshua
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 2:39am
Just like any good liberal…. it’s always, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Typical liberal hypocrisy.

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high school drop out
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 2:34am
They should publish a map where the biggest populations of idiots are…Oh wait..someone already did..The “Blue state” “Red state” map!!

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Commonsensical
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 2:33am
“Civil War”, coming to a Nation near you… which side are you on?

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- OccamsSword
  Posted on January 2, 2013 at 2:42am
  The side with well armed citizens!!!
  
  Report this comment
Technohick
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 2:28am
It is a good thing that they decided to pick on gun owners that as a group have a strong sense of law and order, and are mostly conservative. Libbies under a similar kind of attack probably would have had union thugs fire bomb the place and blanket party the editor and author. Imagine the outrage if instead of publishing gun owners that exercise their 2nd Amendment rights, they outed black voters exercising their 15th Amendment rights. That might cause a fuss..

Their stupidity has put hundreds or thousands of people in danger. The gun owners are now outed as a place for criminals to steal guns. The houses not listed are easy prey for home invasion and burglary. The paper and thug editor would be an accessory to any of those crimes, and subject to a good reaming by the tort lawyers of any victims. I hope that they sue them so many times that they take away all of their assets their birthdays too.

The armed guard thing is typical too. Libbies hate guns and God. The first thing that they do when they get scared is call someone with a gun and pray that they get there fast.

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OccamsSword
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 2:19am
I’m guessing they lambasted the NRA for thier stance on putting armed security in the schools to protect the children… Yet that was the first, and most logical decision they made to protect themselves from any possible percieved threat… They pretty much just proved the point, and are so stupid, they don’t even realize it… Every angle the hipocracy is apparent to us and do they not see it?Ther is NO WAY to defend the duplicity.

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louie louie
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 2:05am
They were sure quick to employ hired guns when they felt threatened, but they want to take away our right to protect ourselves. Not everyone can afford to hire armed guards like they can.

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yazoo
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 2:02am
Publish the name(s) of the Security Companies, and the names and addresses of their employees.

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Diane TX
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 1:51am
In honor of the children murdered in Newtown, the paper should only be allowed to have guards armed with bed pillows.

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- Miss Impala
  Posted on January 2, 2013 at 3:30am
  Leadnotfollow said it succintly… you reap what you sow.
  
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- Miss Impala
  Posted on January 2, 2013 at 3:30am
  LMAO… priceless!
  
  Report this comment
Mr.DinAlaska
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 1:49am
It must really gnaw at them that they can not get the names of Rifle & Shotgun owners.I would imagine the reason Ms. McBride had to hire private security is because, as the police said, PERCEIVED threats do not constitute just cause. Ms. McBride you can list me,& my Walther P22, S&W .380, SA 1911-.45, Ruger .454, AK47, AR15 & my M1A1(M14) if you’ld like.

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LeadNotFollow
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 1:35am
That newspaper is finding out that you reap what you sow.

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everydaywoman
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 1:34am
This, folks, is what you call irony – and hypocrisy at it’s finest.

….and, no – I don’t condone that blogger for putting the addresses of those “journalists” on his blog, nor do condone any threats that MAY come from the public. I don’t blame the blogger and public for any outrage about this (what this “paper” did was absolutely wrong and I’m disgusted about it too) but two wrongs don’t make a right.

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- TurboCat
  Posted on January 2, 2013 at 3:49am
  Of course the blogger had the right idea! Bullies only understand one thing. It is not a wrong to do what the blogger did in any way! How can you possibly equate the two? One of them was wrong, and one of them was right. End of story.
  
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Jeetman
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 1:25am
Those of you who are saying that it’s hypocritical for these news morons to hire armed guards are wrong. You’re not understanding l i b t a r d thinking. L i b t a r d s believe (stupidly I might add) that if you’ve had professional training and are hired as a guard, it’s then OK for you to carry a gun. In their warped, view that has no grasp of reality or common sense, they believe that you must be educated by proper teachers. It’s why they won’t accept your abilities or skills unless you’ve got them through a college education. It’s the same principle. They won’t or can’t accept that a person can learn how to safely use a gun from an experienced father or mother or uncle so unless you are paid by a service to be a guard, then you have NO business owning a gun and in fact (in their deranged world) you should not have the right to have one. They are a sick bunch of idiots.

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Ray D. Aider
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 1:21am
Emails and phone calls are fine…however I hope many of you took the time and just a little bit of money on stamps to send snail mail to their homes now that their home addresses are public.
No threats, just lots of snail mail. It’s my hope that their post man gets just a little upset with them.
And with real mail…they have to deal with physical stuff. Emails can be easily ignored as spam.

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Bodacious_Boedi
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 1:09am
Hypocrisy and irony……so sweet!!

This is about as ironic as Congress and Dear Leader putting his “full weight” behind gun legislation while they both enjoy an armed camp protecting them.

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TRILO
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 1:04am
What a bunch of hypocrites. I do not know how they can even go to work now that they have to walk by those evil people carrying guns outside of their “gun free” zone. I am reveling in fact the police have invalidated their claim of threats by callers, e-mails, etc. who have condemned their actions.

Once again the left tell us “Do as I say, not as I do”.

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drenfroe
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 12:55am
Armed guards have guns…I guess the people don’t agree with media do they when you put them at risk. Media needs to rethink their positions on some of this and use common sense instead of hype. This isn’t a socialist country and Americans aren’t socialist. You want socialist go to socialist countries and leave Americans alone. American values and wayu of life are the worlds last hope and all the usual idiots are trying to take that hope away.

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Miss Impala
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 12:40am
LMAO! The police actually said: “The email did not “constitute an offense” and didn’t have an actual threat, police said.”

This editor is obviously blowing things out of proportion. I love this… hire guns to protect you all the while making legal abiding gun owners appear as if they were registered sex offenders.

“And even after a pro-Second Amendment blogger retaliated by publishing the personal information of Journal News staffers, the Gannet newspaper decided to double down and release even more personal information on New York permit holders.”

Be afraid County Times, be afraid.. lol… nothing like paranoia to take care of business.

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BanjoPicker
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 12:35am
Why do they need guns at all? What happened to the sufficiency of omnipresent law enforcement argument? Perhaps this newspaper just converted to paranoid conservative lunatics and we should welcome them to the club.

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pennx300
Posted on January 2, 2013 at 12:34am
How does a loser news paper afford to have armed guards , but a public school can’t have it or even a resource. Officer ? Seems to me the news paper has been given some funding for this prehaps to be perceived as some sort of victim status . ? Sounds like a crisis not being wasted . I’m sure there is a money trail here .

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- TRILO
  Posted on January 2, 2013 at 1:14am
  The schools have the money, it is the school board and administration that does not allocate the funding. Resource officers are either provided and paid for by the police department, thereby taking an officer off the street; or a funding arrangement is made between the police dept and the school.
  
  Our community used to entirely pay for the SRO’s. Due to budget restraints and the need for more officers on the streets, the number of SRO’s was reduced and the schools pay a prorated cost. They would not pay the entire cost, nor would they pay for more officers due to their budgets. Even though they just received a voter approved tax increase, where they decided to take raises instead.
  
  Police and Fire are the two most expensive employees on the payroll, except for city management and department directors.
  
  Report this comment

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