Gun Politics New York

From the Washington Post, “Gabrielle Giffords, husband Mark Kelly launch anti-gun-violence group“:

“Mark Kelly woke up in the middle of the night in his hotel room in China and looked at his BlackBerry: Twenty children in Connecticut, all shot to death. He immediately called his wife thousands of miles away, Gabrielle Giffords. “I said to her, ‘Gabby, we can’t just put out a statement anymore,’ ” Kelly recounted in an interview Tuesday. “Twenty first-graders and their teachers, murdered in a classroom. If we just talk about it, things won’t change. We need to try and help.” With that, a couple who survived their own episode of gun violence decided to make themselves the new faces of the push to toughen the country’s gun laws. The astronaut and his wife — who as a Democratic congresswoman representing Arizona was shot in the head in 2011 outside a Tucson supermarket — announced on Tuesday, the second anniversary of the shooting, that they were forming their own political group to take on the powerful National Rifle Association …”

Where’s their money coming from?

“Steve and Amber Mostyn, wealthy Texas trial attorneys, said today that they are giving $1 million to help start the gun-control advocacy group formed by former Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. Steve Mostyn, one of the top contributors to a super political action committee that helped President Barack Obama’s re-election effort, is listed as treasurer of Giffords’s new super-PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions. Mostyn said the group will have a nonprofit wing, which will be used to conduct a public education campaign …”

They’re going to fail for the same reason all antigun groups are failing: lack of real public support.  This is yet another attempt on the part of wealthy professional activists and politicians to put up an eminence front in order to sell an unpopular agenda to the public.  It is nothing but astroturf.

What these people simply refuse to accept is that gunnies political power comes not from money, but from ordinary citizens themselves.  That is why gun sales are up and why applications for CCWs are up all across the country.  The antis simply cannot match that.

Rockland officials held a press conference this morning to condemn the Journal News for publishing the pistol license list for Rockland and Westchester.  This pretty much sums how it all went:

“… County legislator Aron Wieder brought a check and completed pistol permit application to the press conference and presented it to county clerk Paul Piperato.  “I have never owned a gun but now I have no choice,” Wieder said. “I have been exposed as someone who does not have a gun and I will do anything to protect my family.” …”

Gun owners fight with the Journal News keeps getting better:

Plus, “Rockland Politicos to ‘Condemn’ Gun Map“:

“In a press release sent out late Wednesday afternoon, Rockland lawmakers announced they will join the growing ranks of public servants and Lower Hudson Valley residents angered by the recent publication of a map pinpointing local gun owners … Rockland County Legislator Frank Sparaco will announce a resolution to condemn the decision by The Journal News to post the names and addresses of lawful pistol permit holders in Rockland and Westchester Counties,” the release reads. Sparaco will be joined by Legislators Jay Hood, Jr., Aron Wieder, Toney Earl and Christopher Carey at the Friday confence … The Friday conference will also tackle a slate of other gun-related issues, like confidentiality for pistol permit applications, officials said. Lawmakers will also suggest a program that would freely distribute firearm cable safety locks to all legal gun owners in the area. The conference will draw bipartisan support; the release notes Rockland County Clerk Paul Piperato, Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco, Kristen Stavisky, the Chairwoman of the Rockland Co. Democratic Party and Vincent Reda, Chairman of the Rockland Co. Republican Party will all be present …”

It is very rare to see both Democrat and Republican leadership get together like this.Journal News

I was interviewed by a reporter for WNYC this morning. All they ran was this quote:

“… Jacob Rieper, vice president of legislative affairs for the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, said any changes that go after guns or legal gun owners won’t work.  “All of these ideas they’re based on the false premise that somehow guns are the problem. They’re not,” Rieper said. “You have to focus on personal behavior, on criminals especially on the mentally ill.” …”