Patch Chatter

Readers Say Media Shouldn’t Publish Maps of Gun Owners

The majority of Patch readers said publishing gun owner information could do more harm than good.

We asked Patch readers this week, in response to a New York paper's decision to publish names and addresses of gun owners, if they thought media should publish such lists. As of Friday afternoon, the majority of Patch readers said no. While gun owner license information is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act in Illinois, similar information is publicly available in other states such as New York, where the Journal News created a map listing names and addresses of handgun permit holders in Westchester and Rockland counties.  Our article, Should Maps of Local Gun Owners Be Public? generated more than 100 comments. Close to 80 percent of users voted no when asked if the media should be publishing these sorts of maps. Patch user Holly …

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