Do You Want to Know Who Owns a Gun (on Your Faculty)?

The Journal News, a local publication based in Westchester County, New York has published an interactive map of the names and addresses of  pistol permit holders in Westchester and Rockland Counties.  Officials in nearby Putnam County (NY) have declined to release the information in response to FOIA requests.

The publication of the map has resulted in threats to the publishers, prompting the Journal News to hire armed guards to protect the organization's offices (see news coverage here, e.g.).  Public opinion on the appropriateness of the publication of the information is divided (see, e.g., here). 

In some parts of the country, in some towns and cities, at some universities, gun ownership may be part of the culture.  Not so in my slice of New York or at my institution, though.  Given that 40% of my faculty colleagues live in Westchester or Rockland County, I admit that the map piqued my interest.  After some hesitation, I did look at the map (as did lots of other folks; apparently the map is the most popular feature on the website of the Journal News).  I admit to feeling somewhat uneasy about the act of looking, though, for reasons I can't quite articulate.  On the one hand, I believe that all state licenses should be a matter of public record.  On the other hand, I can imagine that if I were a gun owner in Westchester or Rockland County, I might not want that information available to my neighbors.

Comments

[AB]

Seems like that map could be of use to criminals. Break into the house with no guns...

[E]

Alternatively, break into a house *with* guns, because you want a gun, or because you want the kinds of things that gun owners buy or have. Think of it like the combination of the telephone book with the yellow pages.

[A]

So does anyone other than burglars benefit from this disclosure?

[Anon]

I suppose it allows you to choose not to let your kids go over to a friend's house if the friend's parents have guns in the house.

[A]

Yeah, you wouldn't want your kid going to a place where people had passed background checks. Unfortunately, it won't tell you whether people have shotguns or rifles. Or handguns that they didn't get permits for.

[Anon]

A - it's actually not because you fear the parents would shoot your kid. It's because you have no idea whether they have properly secured their guns and separated the bullets. The worry is the kids will get into the guns and shoot themselves or each other, especially if inadequately supervised. Of course, you don't need a permit map for that (and, as you point out, that would be underinclusive). You can just ask the parents. Their reaction is all you need to know.