Interactive Map of Local Gunowners Now Available

Last week when we floated the idea of publishing the list of gun owners in Scarsdale, we were flooded with disparaging comments. In response to the article, Does Your Neighbor Have a Gun? on Scarsdale10583.com, one reader called the notion "Insane. Stupid. Idiotic." Another said, "What makes this country great is the right to privacy and the right of law-abiding people to own firearms should they choose," and another got personal, saying, "Does Joanne Wallenstein have any experience with firearms? I bet Ms. Wallenstein has never fired a gun... but now she's an expert on gun control? BTW - there is NO gun register. Guns don't kill people... people kill people."

It turns out there is a list of those with pistol permits. Now, just a few days after our piece appeared the Journal News has published a map showing the names and addresses of all registered gun owners in Westchester and Rockland Counties. We don't know if they got the idea to request the information from Scarsdale10583 as they give no credit to the site – however, whether by coincidence or happenstance, the information is now available to the general public.

According to the article, there are 44,000 gun owners in the two counties, meaning one out of 23 adults are licensed to own a handgun. While the list does provide the names and addresses of the gun owners, it does not provide information about the types of guns that are owned or how many guns each owner has in his or her possession.

The information was obtained by filing a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) request and the newspaper used the data to compile and interactive map showing where gun owners reside. According to the NY Times, publication of this information has caused an outcry and many are upset over their loss of privacy. 

Take a look here to see who has a pistol permit on your street. You may be surprised. And continue to send us your comments on this clearly "loaded" issue.

See a live discussion about guns and your neighbors with Joanne Wallenstein on Huffington Post live: