A national storm broke out yesterday when The Rockland Journal News published an interactive map showing who in New York’s Rockland, Westchester and Putnam counties is licensed to own a gun.
According to Wikipedia, 31.45% of Rockland County is Jewish, and it’s the largest per capita Jewish county in the United States! The majority of the 90,000 Jews in the county of 300,000 are Ultra-Orthodox/Hasidic. Many dozens eagerly reviewed the map, and all those in the community who called or e-mailed me about the map, were pleasantly surprised to learn that so many within the community are licensed to own weapons.
Indeed, some were concerned as to the motives of the paper to publish the list. However, literally all those who communicated with me about the map were joyful to downright happily giddy that so many fellow neighbors and congregants are licensed to own.
While being aware as to who is licensed is the talk of town now, one local gun enthusiast told me today “I do not want to have a gun in my house or anywhere close to my family.” This is a fully-bearded Hasidic guy who – get this - is libertarian on most issues, and has mastered the skill to target accurately 95% of the time in skeet shooting. However he says, “Don’t fool yourself. Guns are dangerous so don’t count on me being on the list any time soon.”
