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'Journal News' Advertisers Could Get Boycott Over Gun Map

Newspaper's Advertisers Face Huge Backlash Over Gun Map
TINLEY PARK, IL - OCTOBER 18: Fred Lutger, owner of Freddie Bear Sports, shows a Smith & Wesson Lady Smith pistol being offered for sale at his store on October 18, 2012 in Tinley Park, Illinois. Facing a $267.5 million fiscal 2013 budget gap, Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago and suburbs, has proposed a tax of 5 cents per bullet and $25 on each firearm sold at gun and sporting goods stores in the county. Lutger, who has owned Freddie Bear Sports for 35 years, is concerned with the impact the tax will have on his store which is located about 2 miles inside the Cook County line. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
TINLEY PARK, IL - OCTOBER 18: Fred Lutger, owner of Freddie Bear Sports, shows a Smith & Wesson Lady Smith pistol being offered for sale at his store on October 18, 2012 in Tinley Park, Illinois. Facing a $267.5 million fiscal 2013 budget gap, Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago and suburbs, has proposed a tax of 5 cents per bullet and $25 on each firearm sold at gun and sporting goods stores in the county. Lutger, who has owned Freddie Bear Sports for 35 years, is concerned with the impact the tax will have on his store which is located about 2 miles inside the Cook County line. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Advertisers for The Journal News could face a boycott after the newspaper recently published the names and addresses of local gun owners.

The newspaper sparked outrage when it released an interactive map of people with pistol licenses in Westchester and Rockland counties. One blogger even retaliated by publishing the addresses and contact information for the newspaper's executives and staff members.

Now, the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association is urging people across the country to stop giving business to companies that advertise with Gannett, which owns The Journal News. The group alleged in a statement that the newspaper committed a “wanton act” that “has put in harm's way tens of thousands of lawful license holders.”

The association is also asking customers to contact those companies, which include Best Buy, CVS, IKEA and Target, and ask them to pull their ads until the map is removed.

(h/t Politico)

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