A residence in White Plains, N.Y. that was identified by the Journal News as the home of a legal handgun permit holder was the target of a burglary over the weekend, The Blaze reported Sunday.
According to the Westchester/Rockland Newsday, two burglars targeted the homeowner's gun safe but were unsuccessful in their attempt to open it. The victim, who is in his 70s, was not at home when the burglary took place and authorities have reportedly arrested one suspect.
In late December, the Journal News published a controversial interactive map that showed the names and addresses of legal gun permit holders in two New York counties. The paper was set to publish the names and addresses of a third county, but Putnam County officials are refusing to obey a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by the paper.
Police are investigating what role, if any, the interactive database played in this weekend's robbery.
“The Journal News has placed the lives of these folks at risk by creating a virtual shopping list for criminals and nut jobs. If the connection is proven, this is further proof that these maps are not only an invasion of privacy but that they present a clear and present danger to law-abiding, private citizens," GOP state Senator Greg Ball said Sunday in a strongly worded statement.
"Former convicts have already testified to the usefulness of the asinine Journal News ‘gun maps’ yet the reckless editors are evidently willing to roll the dice, gambling with the lives of innocent local homeowners,” he added.
In early January, reformed burglars told Fox News that the map was "a great service – to their old cronies in the burglary trade."
"They just created an opportunity for some crimes to be committed and I think it’s exceptionally stupid,” Bob Portenier, a former burglar turned crime prevention consultant, told Fox.
Ball unveiled legislation that would protect lawful gun owners, including thousands of retired and active law enforcement and survivors of domestic violence, from having their personal information publicly disclosed.
"The same elitist eggheads who use their editorial page to coddle terrorists and criminals are now treating law abiding citizens like level three sexual predators," Ball's statement said. "These bills are critical to keep folks safe and fundamentally protect their inherent right to privacy."
"This is not about the Second Amendment; these bills are simply about commonsense and personal privacy. Publishing this information on a website, as we have evidently just witnessed in the recent attempted gun burglary, provides criminals with a map of where they can steal firearms from lawful owners for later use in the commission of crimes. This legislation is critical,” Ball said.
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