Spotted over at Gothamist:
“New York City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez wants to make it easier for bodega owners to obtain guns, following the murder of two Bronx deli workers in separate shootings in the span of a week. Rodriguez, who represents neighborhoods in Upper Manhattan, floated the idea during a rally held in the Bronx on Wednesday to honor Mohammed Qutaish, the 20-year-old clerk fatally shot on Tuesday following a dispute with a teenage customer. Several groups, including the Yemeni American Merchants Association, called for the city to install “panic buttons” inside bodegas, allowing workers to quickly summon police during an emergency. But Rodriguez went a step further in his remarks. “I also call for the city of New York to explore the possibility of allowing deli and bodega owners to go through the process to get a permit to have a weapon, too,” he said. “I believe the owners of these establishments, they should be allowed to apply and be able to have arms,” Rodriguez continued, citing an “epidemic” of violence against deli clerks …”
This is a good opportunity 2A groups could use for political advantage.