The BATSE detectors aboard Compton Observatory record about one cosmic &ggr;‐ray burst (GRB) per day.1Preliminary data analysis shows a highly isotropic sky map and a non‐uniform brightness distribution.1–3Anisotropies expected from a Galactic neutron star population, the most frequently considered source model, did not emerge from the data. Taken at face value, the data seem to suggest a heliocentric solution of the GRB puzzle.4The observed isotropy can be achieved if sources are either very near or extra‐galactic, reminiscent of the great debate about the nature of galaxies. Pop I neutron stars in the disk do not simultaneously fit sky‐ and brightness distributions. A possibility are sources in an extended Galactic halo with scale length large enough to avoid strong anisotropies due to the solar offset from the galactic center. If GRBs are located in an extended halo we ask whether the neutron star paradigm can survive? We show that the recently discovered5high velocity radio pulsars may provide a natural source population for GRBs. If these pulsars formed in the halo, as suggested by the radio data, the possibility arises that GRBs and high velocity pulsars are two related phenomena that provide observational evidence of the dark Galactic corona. We also discuss cosmological redshift constraints that follow from the observed brightness distribution.