A Maine newspaper that sparked outrage by asking for public records listing the names of concealed gun permit holders has dropped its request.
The Bangor Daily News also said it would destroy information already received from some agencies before it rescinded its request for the public records.
The newspaper had insisted it was not going to use the records the same way the New York suburban paper The Journal News did — printing the addresses of gun owners. But the effort to obtain gun owner records still infuriated many readers.
“We are disappointed with the reaction to our request, which we felt was with the best intentions to help study issues affecting Maine through an analysis of publicly available data,’’ the newspaper said in an article.
“We will continue our reporting, but will use other sources of information to do so.’’
The newspaper said its request “may have been taken as a personal attack on concealed carry permit holders, some of whom work at the [Daily News] . . . Although we regret causing this controversy, it has not dulled our will to ask difficult questions to keep our governments accountable and help make Maine a better place.’’
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