The NRA and Tea Party should post the addresses of everyone in the Mainstream media.
If that were to happen, there would be reporters on the gun owner list. And there would be some surprising names on that media gun owner list. Obvious examples include crime reporters and women reporters who have had nasty divorces.
Some of us who strongly support the First Amendment realize you can't undercut the Second Amendment without undercutting the First Amendment as well.
I've written more here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2975048/posts?page=44#44
State laws differ, and this could not have happened in Missouri. Under RSMo. 571.101.9, qualifications to carry a concealed weapon, which are the only sort of records of gun ownership maintained in Missouri, are not open to the public.
I don't think it could have happened in any other state where I've worked as a reporter. It looks like New York has a damaging loophole that needs to be closed, and I hope the NRA is working hard right now to check the laws of the other states to see how many other states there are where something like this could blow up.
I am normally a huge advocate of public access to government information — the government does, after all, work for the taxpayers, not other way around — and I have a decades-long history of fighting for access to records that some people don't want publicized. However, I can see absolutely no valid reason for gun ownership records to be public, and it's obvious that a lot of damage has already been done by publicizing them in New York.
The New York loophole needs to be closed.