A suburban New York newspaper that published the names and addresses of gun owners in two counties, along with an interactive map, hired armed guards to protect its headquarters after perceived threats from angry readers, according to a report in a rival newspaper.

The Journal News,

a White Plains, New York-based newspaper, posted the map of pistol permit holders in the Lower Hudson Valley counties of Rockland and Westchester on Christmas Eve, in a story called

That story inspired a heated reaction among readers, gun owners, and privacy advocates, some of whom posted personal information about

Journal News

staffers and employees of the paper's parent company, Gannett.

That feedback, termed "negative correspondence" in a police report filed by a

Journal News

editor, prompted the paper to hire armed security guards to man their Rockland, New York, office earlier this week, according to

.

The administrator of the security firm told area police on Dec. 28 that there had been no issues at the site as of that time, the

Rockland County Times

. A

Journal News

editor has filed at least two reports of perceived threats with police.

Last week, the

Journal News

announced plans to

, Putnam, but the county has

to the paper, according to an Associated Press report. The Putnam County clerk is fighting the release of the permit information, which is public record, on grounds that it could endanger the lives of the permit holders.

In New York, one state senator reacted to the release of the pistol permit information by proposing a law making that information private except to prosecutors and police,

. He also called the paper's editors "asinine."

The

Journal News

has defended its publication of gun owner information on the grounds that many readers might want to know if their neighbors are armed.

Update, 2 p.m.:

, the

Journal Sun

mail room received an envelope full of a white powder, which was found to be harmless.

Previously on al.com: