Putnam County Won’t Give Gun Info to Paper

Officials in Putnam County, N.Y., say they will reject a newspaper’s request to release the names and addresses of residents with pistol permits — a move an open government advocate calls illegal.

County Clerk Dennis Sant said officials were meeting Wednesday to discuss legal options.

In December, the Journal News published online maps that allow viewers to see the names and addresses of pistol and revolver permit holders in neighboring Westchester and Rockland counties. The newspaper sought the records under the state Freedom of Information Law after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Critics called the publication an invasion of privacy; some said it could endanger permit holders.

“In Putnam County, I have over 11,000 pistol permit holders, and I refuse to put their lives and their families’ lives in danger,” Sant told The New York Times. “When these laws were conceived, there was no social media, there was no Google maps.”

State Sen. Greg Ball referred to Journal News editors as “elitist eggheads” and called the decision to publish the maps “asinine,” that newspaper reported.

“I thank G-d that Putnam County has a clerk with the guts to stand up and draw the line here in Putnam County,” said Ball, who plans to appear Thursday at a news conference with county officials.

Robert Freeman, executive director of the state’s Committee on Open Government, said the county outside New York City would be violating state law if it withholds the information. “The name and address of any gun licensee are public,” he said.

The newspaper stands by the project.

“We believe the law is clear that this is public information and the residents of Putnam County are entitled to see it,” said Journal News President and Publisher Janet Hasson. “We’re troubled that county officials have apparently switched their position since we first requested the information.”

Freeman said the Journal News could appeal a denial, which would be heard within Putnam County government. If a second denial occurred, the newspaper could ask a judge to decide.

The Journal News, a Gannett Co. newspaper covering three counties in the Hudson Valley, ran an 1,800-word story headlined, “The gun owner next door: What you don’t know about the weapons in your neighborhood.”

The story included comments from both sides of the gun rights debate and presented the data as answering concerns of those who would like to know whether there are guns in their neighborhood.

In a related story, the public safety commissioner in Saratoga Springs wants limits on what types of weapons are displayed at an upcoming gun show in the city.

The Albany Times Union reports that Commissioner Chris Mathiesen will present a resolution to the City Council Wednesday urging exhibitors not to display “semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.” He said it would be inappropriate to display weapons of the type used in the Connecticut school shootings.

The show’s promoter, David Petronis, said last week he will ask exhibitors not to bring magazine-fed, semiautomatic rifles or look-alikes to the show. But he’ll allow those guns to be displayed as “undertable stock or in a box.” Petitions for and against the show have each garnered more than a thousand signatures. The show is Jan. 12-13.

This article appeared in print on page 4 of the January 3rd, 2013 edition of Hamodia.