New York newspaper posts gun owners’ names, addresses: Taking it too far?

NY newspaper publishes names and addresses of gun owners in Westchester and Rockland Counties

Many New Yorkers are outraged that a newspaper published an interactive map of all gun owners’ names and addresses in Westchester and Rockland counties, prompting the question: Did the paper step way over the line?
According to CNN, the Journal News made it its duty to publish online Saturday, the names and where all handgun owners in those New York counties lived. The interactive map showed red dots for the residences of gun owners; readers could simply zoom in to get a clear view. There were also blue dots, which indicated those residents who have updated their information on a permit or purchased a gun in the last five years.
The names, addresses and gun permit details which was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act, has prompted almost 2,000 angry comments on the newspaper's website. People are calling the map everything from “crazy” to a gross invasion of privacy. However there are some residents who support the paper's decision to publish the info, with one mother saying on Twitter that she has a right to know if the homes of neigbors her children might visit, have guns.
In the wake of Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting, where 20 children and six faculty members were murdered in Newtown, Conn., the gun control debate has reached fever pitch. Understandably, nerves are raw and opposing sides of the argument are ratcheting up their offensive but publishing the names and addresses of private citizens who have a legal right to own the guns they have, is excessive, to say the least.
Not only did the newspaper literally draw a road map to gun owners’ homes, they have informed the public to those residents who do not own guns. So they have inadvertently invaded every resident of Rockland and Westchester’s privacy. Not only is this highly irresponsible in my humble opinion, it has a potential of danger as well. As much as I would like to see some sensible, sound, solutions to our senseless gun violence, guns have their positives. Burglars would most likely avoid the homes with gun owners for the ones without, so alerting potential criminals to the residences that are uarmed, is stunning in its stupidity.
Let’s play devil’s advocate for a minute and say that the paper was trying to help the gun argument along. What exactly does this accomplish? Apart from creating uproar, it does nothing to advance the cause of gun control. We already know that many Americans own guns. We already know that our society’s problem is not just a gun problem.
Let’s get real for a minute. Americans love violence. It’s in our nation’s DNA. From graphic bloody video games and movies to our many wars waging in foreign lands to even the sport of football, we love the thrill of “shoot em up, beat em up, aggressive, skull-crushing tackles”—and despite all the noise on proliferation of guns in our society, and the National Rifle Association (NRA)’s stronghold on gun rights, if the American people truly wanted more gun control, it would have happened a long time ago.