Threats Mounts for Paper That Published Gun List

I've followed this closely from the beginning--this is my local paper--and now NYT with a lengthy piece on controversy sparked by decision to publish list of all gun permit holders in two New York City suburban counties.  Threats against reporters ever worse than I thought, including warnings they would be shot on the way to their cars, white powder mailed to office and home, widespread harassment, not to mention ad boycott, and more..."home addresses and information about where their children attended school; some reporters have received notes saying they would be shot on the way to their cars; bloggers have encouraged people to steal credit card information of Journal News employees...."

Note:  The media (including NYT today) continually take a face value gun owner claims that they fear bad guys will break in and steal their guns.  Has anyone actually researched how many gun robberies in homes occur every year in such counties?  I would question how many there are.  And this paper publish only names of people holding permits for handguns--not more valuable (in most cases) long guns.  Also: Isn't another claim by gun owners that they can use their weapons to scare off or shoot intruders?