Ex-Burglars Say Newspaper's Gun Map Would've Made the Job Easier, Safer
By: Fox News
Updated: January 4, 2013
Reformed crooks say the New York newspaper that published a map of names and addresses of gun owners did a great service - to their old cronies in the burglary trade.
The information published online by the Journal-News, a daily paper serving the New York suburbs of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, could be highly useful to thieves in two ways, former burglars told FoxNews.com. Crooks looking to avoid getting shot now know which targets are soft and those who need weapons know where they can steal them.
"That was the most asinine article I've ever seen," said Walter T. Shaw, 65, a former burglar and jewel thief who the FBI blames for more than 3,000 break-ins that netted some $70 million in the 1960s and 1970s. "Having a list of who has a gun is like gold - why rob that house when you can hit the one next door, where there are no guns?
"What they did was insanity," added Shaw, author of "License to Steal," a book about his criminal career.
The newspaper published the online map last month alongside an article titled, "The gun owner next door: What you don't know about the weapons in your neighborhood." The map included the names and addresses of pistol permit holders in Westchester and Rockland counties obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
While the paper ostensibly sought to make a point about gun proliferation in the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., the effort backfired. A blogger reacted with a map showing where key editorial staffers live and some outraged groups have called for a boycott of parent company Gannett's national advertisers. Ironically, the newspaper has now stationed armed guards outside at least one of its offices.
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