The issue of gun ownership in the aftermath of the killing of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn. has led many advocates on both sides of the issue to respond without thinking.
The disclosure of the names and addresses of licensed gun owners not only informs would-be burglars who has a gun, but gives them a pretty good idea of who doesn't. This increases the danger to the non-gun owner. It also increases the danger to the gun owners by making them targets of burglars, and in turn this endangers the entire community. Uncertainty as to whether a person has the means to defend themselves is the primary protection for all.
Similarly, Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association is wrong to suggest that an armed guard be assigned to every school. However, the federal gun-free zone law that prohibits guns on school property prevents the teachers and administrators from defending themselves and students. What a different outcome it would have been had the principal or some other person at the school been able to go to a locked cabinet and retrieve a gun with which to confront the gunman. What if the gunman faced uncertainty as to whether someone in the school had a gun; that uncertainty might have deterred him.
Numerous government agencies collect a lot of information about citizens. The expectation and the implied contract is that certain information will remain confidential. Putnam County officials exercised a certain level of prudence in taking a wait-and-see approach to the request from the Journal News newspaper for gun ownership data, perhaps considering the dangers that Westchester, Rockland counties and the Journal News ignored.
William P. McMillen
Delmar