Results tagged “thenra”

Rudy'n'Judi, may your antics never ever end! The former mayor was speaking to the National Rifle Association today when he interrupted his speech to take a call from the wife. Seriously. The NY Times has video and coverage - it doesn't seem like he silenced his phone fo the speech! That's how much he respects the NRA members!

In a city whose mayor has made gun control one of his signature issues, it's no surprise that the number of registered gun owners has gone down. The Post reports that there are now 36,169, versus 38,000 last year. Permits that allow one to wear a gun on a holster (concealed) also dropped to 2,555, which the Sun says is almost 50% less than the 2004 number. Of course, there's now way to estimate illegal gun ownership.

Fifteen more reasons for the NRA to hate Mayor Bloomberg: He (well, NYC) filed a federal lawsuit against 15 out-of-state gun dealers, after conducting a sting operation! The dealers in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia were picked because their guns seem to make their way into NYC crimes. The Mayor's press conference included the undercover video footage of the illegal sales, and the city explained its process:

Over the past six weeks, investigators from the James Mintz Group, a private investigative firm employed by the City, traveled to five states to confirm what gun trace data had already shown probable – that these gun dealers were violating federal laws governing firearms sales. The investigators, in teams of two, entered gun stores and followed a scenario commonly known as “straw purchasing” – where one individual makes all of the inquiries into purchasing the gun, and then the other individual, completely uninvolved in the sale process, fills out the required federal forms to pass the background check. Federal law prohibits licensed dealers from selling firearms to individuals when they have a reasonable belief that the firearm being sold is not for the person who purports to be the purchaser.

There is a lot of speculation about how Mayor Bloomberg will make good on his inauguration day promise to go after illegal guns. After his speech, the NRA and various pro-gun groups attacked the Mayor; for instance, the NY Sun had an NRA quote saying that "Mayor Bloomberg ought to focus on New York City, given that that's his area of responsibility. He has challenges over there because he has misplaced priorities." Misplaced priorities? To get illegal guns off the street? The NRA's argument is that criminals should be punished as harshly as possible, and are probably worried about the Mayor's lawsuit against gunmakers (the ol' "gun was initially legally purchased but then stolen and used in a crime" question). Yesterday, the Daily News suggests that he might use his personal fortune to get the message out there, stirring more fear. Yeah, gun-toting red staters hate liberals who become Republicans to win elections, even if they are rich. We liked this part of the News article best:

"Virginia is liberal in gun ownership, but our crime rate is very low," explained Jerry Thompson, 41, owner of Dominion Shooting Range Inc., a Richmond gun shop. "So we kind of thumb our nose at New York because gun laws are so restrictive there, but crime is higher."

Continue reading "Mayor Bloomberg Goes After Guns"

With all the travel I am doing to Orlando for business, I gasped when I read that the NRA was holding its annual convention in Orlando this month. I wonder if the NRA offered any special packages with Walt Disney World so the whole family can have a good ol' time.