Quinn Slams List Of New York City Gun Owners Published By Gawker
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn gave a big thumbs down to the Web site Gawker, after the site posted a searchable list of licensed gun owners in New York City.
As WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported, the Gawker article published Tuesday was headlined: "Here is a List of All the A**holes Handsome Law-Abiding Citizens Who Own Guns Some People in New York City."
Quinn Slams List Of New York City Gun Owners Published By Gawker
It was accompanied by a graphic showing an array of assault weapons in silhouette, pointing upward like high-rise buildings against a menacing, overcast sky with the Statue of Liberty far in the background.
The article noted that the Journal News drew protest upon publishing a "mappable database of every gun owner in Westchester and Rockland Counties," and that Ann Coulter had called for a similar list for Manhattan, where she wanted to know how many "rich liberals with bodyguards" have gun permits.
"You're in luck, Ann," wrote John Cook in the Gawker article. "I happened to have just such a list in in my filing cabinet. Here it is."
The article went on to display a 446-page list of all the licensed gun owners in New York City, which Cook wrote that he obtained from the NYPD two and a half years ago through a Freedom of Information Act request. The list only contains names, and not addresses.
Quinn said the publication of the list was not appropriate.
"I think the rules for getting a gun need to be tougher, but if you meet the rules, and you get a license in the legal way, and you have that license, I don't think that should be printed in a newspaper," she said.
Quinn added that anyone who has met the rules and received a license, "you have not done anything wrong. You've met the legal standard.
"Now do I think the legal standard is high enough or strong enough? No. And do I want to do everything I can to limit the number of guns that are out there? Yes," she went on. "But I'm not sure what we gain from putting that kind of information out there in that way."
In his article, Cook said the names of 1.2 million New Yorkers licensed to own handguns, and the addresses for 300,000 of them, have been available online for more than two years.
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