by
John Nolte
5 Jan 2013
The entirely predictable consequences of the Journal News' decision to publish a map of gun-owners marches on…
The entirely predictable consequences of the Journal News' decision to publish a map of gun-owners marches on…
Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco, who spoke at a news conference flanked by other county officials, said the Journal News' decision to post an online map of names and addresses of handgun owners Dec. 23 has put law enforcement officers in danger.
"They have inmates coming up to
them and telling them exactly where they live. That's not acceptable to
me," Falco said, according to Newsday.
Robert Riley, an officer with the
White Plains Police Department and president of its Patrolman’s
Benevolent Association, agreed.
"You have guys who work in New
York City who live up here. Now their names and addresses are out there,
too," he said adding that there are 8,000 active and retired NYPD
officers currently living in Rockland County.
Local lawmakers also say that
they intend to introduce legislation that prevents information about
legal gun owners from being released to the public.
Please don't offer the Journal News' editorial staff an
easy out by claiming they're too dumb or ill-informed to have possibly
seen this coming. That a decision to publish the names and addresses of
legal gun owners would prove useful to our criminal class had to be part
of the editorial team's calculation. But because they're obviously a
bunch of out-of-control, anti-gun zealots, they likely considered the
fallout worth it.
There is one consequence the editors
might not have seen coming, though, and that was the map spooking those
who didn’t own a firearm into getting one:
Legis. Aron Wieder (D-Spring
Valley) called the publication of the list "irresponsible journalism"
and said he now fears for his safety because the map broadcast that he
does not have a gun license. At the news conference Friday morning, he
handed a $150 certified check and a completed pistol permit application
to Rockland County Clerk Paul Piperato.
"I never owned a gun but now I
have no choice," Wieder said. "I have been exposed as someone that has
no gun. And I'll do anything, anything to protect my family."
This is what happens when you allow
left-wing activists to control a newsroom. In a fit of misguided,
self-righteous indignation, they run amok. This is also what happens
when a newsroom operates in what we can only assume is a left-wing
bubble. As we all know, the Left's idea of "diversity" never includes a
diversity of opinion. So when everyone thinks exactly alike, there's no
one with a different and more grounded worldview to talk you down.
