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Journal News removes 'gun map'

The Journal News has removed the names and addresses of area gun-permit holders from its website, citing New York state's new gun law.

"With the passage this week of the NYSAFE gun law, which allows permit holders to request their names and addresses be removed from the public record, we decided to remove the gun permit data from lohud.com at 5 p.m. today," Janet Hasson, Publisher of the Journal News, said in a statement today, forwarded to POLITICO by Ed Tagliaferri, the executive vice president of DKC Media.

The West Nyack, N.Y.-based paper had faced an onslaught of criticism from gun-rights advocates after it published the gun map, which included the names and addresses of gun owners in Westchester and Rockland counties, in response to the school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

The full statement from Hasson:

With the passage this week of the NYSAFE gun law, which allows permit holders to request their names and addresses be removed from the public record, we decided to remove the gun permit data from lohud.com at 5 p.m. today. While the new law does not require us to remove the data, we believe that doing so complies with its spirit. For the past four weeks, there has been vigorous debate over our publication of the permit data, which has been viewed nearly 1.2 million times by readers. One of our core missions as a newspaper is to empower our readers with as much information as possible on the critical issues they face, and guns have certainly become a top issue since the massacre in nearby Newtown, Conn. Sharing as much public information as possible provides our readers with the ability to contribute to the discussion, in any way they wish, on how to make their communities safer. We remain committed to our mission of providing the critical public service of championing free speech and open records.

UPDATE (5:58 p.m.): More from Hasson at lohud.com, the Journal News's website.