Posted on 01/29/2013 6:55:57 AM PST by chessplayer
When the Journal News published a map showing the location of all households in their corner of New York, gun-rights activists vehemently criticized the decision as irresponsible, one that put the entire community in danger. As it turns out, they underestimated just how irresponsible the Journal News decision was. The map wildly overstated the number of active gun permits, and it turns out the newspaper didn’t bother to verify any of their information (via Instapundit):
"The newspaper map of one New York county’s pistol permits was riddled with problems, thanks to inaccurate data in official records, acknowledges the paper that published it. Just 3,907 of the 16,998 permit-holding households displayed on the Journal News‘ Rockland County map were current; the rest were classified as “historical,” with no updates in the past five years, explains Rockland’s county clerk. Some permits were issued as long ago as the 1930s; owners could have moved, ditched their guns, or died since then."
The Journal News offers this lame rationale:
"Until this month, only Westchester, Suffolk and Nassau counties required permits to be renewed every five years; New York City requires an update every three years."
"Every other county in New York — including Rockland — issued permits that were good for a person’s lifetime, and though it was the responsibility of the permit holder to update his information, many simply did not, Piperato said."
Yes, you see, it was the responsibility of the gun owner to update records, even though they might have died in the interim. It certainly wasn’t the Journal News’ responsibility to actually verify that the data was correct, or that they weren’t working with data from, say, the 1930s. Verification and research into what data actually means is so passé, especially when a newspaper can put people’s lives at risk to make a political point — and at the same time come up with a cool graphic.
What difference does it make (snicker)
Sounds to me like the publishers are trying to head off legal responsibility for any home invasions for those not named being robbed and for those named and subject to theft. They are trying to say “But, but, it was not OUR fault. The data was inaccurate so we can’t be to blame.”
The two lame-brain women running this podunk paper just wanted to join the Obama Scare Team in inflating the “danger” of guns. You can’t expect Liberals to be honest when there’s a chance to gain publicity, can you? (Exhibit A: Chuck Schumer)
A crime committed against any of the wrong addresses could be the basis for a lawsuit against the Journal News and Gannett.
Or possibly the right addresses too. I think there have already been two such burglaries in the news.
This puts the lie to “it’s just public information” canard. Pre-internet, pre-computer, you had to walk down to the courthouse and at least had to pay for copies to be made, if they were advanced enough in that way that you didn’t have to copy them out of a ledger one at a time by hand. There is simply no way that a newspaper could have made a map of X-thousand dots that way.
That scraping you hear is the sound of attorneys sharpening their knives.
I received an email with a pic of the publisher. It claimed that this schmuck earned $4.5 million last year. Good. She’ll need every penny for lawyers’ fees and punitive damages.
The map only showed innacurrate pistol permit info.
Lots of folks are packin’, just not letting all the nosey neighbors know about it.
The Map did not show Hi-point Carbine 45 info, AR 15 info, Mossberg 500 info, 1000 rounds of 223 used in two weeks info, entire families with Marksmanship trophies and Active Shooter Suppresion certificates, Blackwater ALICE instructor certification or any other info the discerning criminal would need to know to survive the huge mistake of “visiting” the wrong house.
Criminals can always try. Rockland and Westchester counties are lovely areas.
Just know, many won’t be calling 911 until AFTER.
Fake but accurate?
The publisher simply forgot that with great freedom comes great responsibility.
Is there a map of where media people live?.
All government data is horribly inaccurate. Otherwise we would not be over 10 trillion in debt.
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