The Journal News of West Nyack, New York doesn’t want fellow New Yorkers to be allowed to own guns, and what better way to show support for its stand against guns than to hire armed guards to patrol its offices?
The suburban Westchester Journal News made itself the center of a controversy by publishing the names and addresses of thousands of New York’s legal gun owners in an interactive map on its website. It was accompanied by an article supportive of “a raft of new gun laws” at the state and federal level.
In response to the paper’s article, several bloggers decided to create an interactive map of employees of the Journal News.
The paper then moved to up the ante and announced it would publish even more names and addresses of New York’s law-abiding firearm owners.
In the meantime, however, it appears that the Journal News has decided to hire armed guards to protect its offices.
The Rockland County Times reported Tuesday that the Journal News had hired RGA Investigations, a private security company, to patrol its offices.
These guards “are armed and will be on site during business hours through at least January 2, 2013,” Rockland Times reports.
Clarkstown Police say that Journal News editor Caryn McBride had “previously reported a large amount of negative correspondence in response to the media outlet’s publication of local gun permit holders.” McBride gave police an email from “an unknown subject” who she said threatened the paper.
The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association has called for a boycott of the Journal News’ advertisers.
Singling out Best Buy, CVS, IKEA, and Target for special attention, the group asked citizens to state that “you will no longer patronize any advertiser who uses Gannet (the Journal News’ parent company) until and unless that advertiser withholds further ads until Gannett takes down the pistol licensee Web page and ceases attacking lawful firearm ownership. In particular, contact advertisers with whom you do business, and who may know you personally.”
Photo: John Nakamura Remy
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