colette wilkinson 
 

As a somewhat sheltered English lass, I loathe guns.  My home country has some of the toughest gun laws in the world, and I’ve never even held one.  In truth, I find them terrifying.

 

To me, a gun is not a toy or a means to display skill. It means death. From innocent cartoons to brutal scenes on TV, popular culture teaches me that guns shoot people dead. Devastating reality in the news has not done much to dispel this rather narrow understanding of marksmanship.

 

A democratic society affords many freedoms. U.S. citizens have a constitutional right to their own opinion and free speech, a right to bear arms, and most certainly, a right to privacy.

 

In the wake of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in December 2012, The Journal News sparked controversy by publishing an interactive online map displaying the names and addresses of handgun permit holders licensed by Westchester and Rockland counties in New York. 

 

In its accompanying online article, “The Gun Owner Next Door: What You Don’t Know About The Weapons In Your Neighborhood,” The Journal News explored conflicting opinions regarding the issue of gun ownership and privacy:

 

John Thomson, a program manager at the Yonkers Family YMCA “would love to know if someone next to [him] had guns,” because he “might not choose to live there.”

 

Dave Triglianos, a certified gun instructor, said his information “should be absolutely private.”

 

Tom King, president of the New York Rifle & Pistol Association, claimed that publishing the permit information would be like “giving a shopping list to criminals.”

 

And the bickering continues. But let's pause for a moment. The debate surrounding privacy for gun owners surely points to a wider issue: an evidently negative stigma commonly associated with owning a gun.

 

In its article, The Journal News determined that “anyone can find out the names and addresses of handgun owners in any county with a Freedom of Information Law request.” A list of FAQs regarding the map published on their website (www.lohud.com) states:  “there is no right to privacy regarding handgun ownership in New York.” 

 

But the key issue here is that The Journal News published this information as a knee-jerk reaction to the devastating Sandy Hook massacre. By doing so, it shamed those with permits and incitied paranoia. Why not just start pointing the finger at who the next Sandy Hook killer might be?

 

“I am not a threat to my neighbors. I don’t pose a physical threat to anyone,” certified gun instructor Dave Triglianos told The Journal News, though the article was sure to include that he owns an AR-15 rifle—the same gun that Adam Lanza used to kill 26 people in Newtown. 

 

Then why not proudly stand up for your Second Amendment right to bear arms? To claim a violation of privacy implies shame, however slight. While names and addresses are accepted as a matter of public record, to include information on gun ownership is clearly a step too far; too many people complained and the interactive map was taken offline after a month.

 

According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in February 2013, “Why Own A Gun?”, as many as 48% of Americans claim they own a gun for protection, while as little as 2% own one simply because it is their constitutional right.

 

As the majority of gun owners keep them merely to “make them feel safer,” it comes as no surprise that they would keep this a private matter. As a result of scaremongering by papers such as The Journal News, they feel branded as potential killers rather than protectors.

 

In its article “Where the Journal News Went Wrong In Mapping Gun Owners,” www.pbs.org quotes one outraged reader as saying, “This is the single most irresponsible piece of ‘journalism’ I have ever seen” and I don’t disagree. By publishing the whereabouts of handgun permits, their owners - regardless of character or track record - become open targets for unjustified criminal association or even theft by those wishing to steal firearms or target an unarmed household.

 

But for me, the reaction to The Journal News’ controversial article goes beyond criminal association. It smacks of the gross discontentment of gun culture among a large proportion of American people. And fear. Fear of an armed neighbor, fear of being unjustifiably labeled as dangerous by a neighbor, fear of another school massacre. Enough already. 

 

As an idealist, I wish that all guns were banned. With no access to firearms there is little need to keep a gun for protection against other guns. But the sad truth is that with approximately 260 million privately owned guns in the country, this isn't a legitimate solution.  Yet.