Andy: Ban young guns
Seeks age limit of 21 on purchases
A WEEK AFTER the high school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, Gov. Cuomo accepted the state Democrats’ nomination for governor by promising additional gun laws, including raising the age to purchase firearms in New York to 21.
Cuomo ripped into President Trump and congressional Republicans for refusing to act again and again as the number of mass shootings in America has grown.
“Look how far we have sunk.” Cuomo said. “Why can’t our national leaders be as smart as our high school students? The answer is because they are a whollyowned subsidiary of the NRA. They sold their souls and they sold their conscience for political contributions.”
He said the state will raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21, up from 18, which was somewhat of a surprise. In March, he downplayed the idea by arguing that doing so nationally would have affected just 13% of the mass shootings over the past 50 years.
Cuomo also again said he will push to increase the waiting period for some gun purchase background checks to 10 days, up from the current three, and also wants to pass a “red flag” gun law that would make it easier to confiscate firearms from people considered a threat to themselves and others.
The gun issue was just one in which Cuomo outlined plans during his 48-minute speech to fight back against what he called Trump and Washington’s attack on New York and the middle class.
Cuomo got support from former Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic National Committee Chair- man Tom Perez, who both preceded the governor at the end of the two-day state Democratic convention at Hofstra University.
Cuomo is facing an aggressive primary challenge by actress-activist Cynthia Nixon, who has accused him of governing more like a Republican. Cuomo got more than 95% of the delegate vote on Wednesday, while Nixon, who briefly attended the convention, fell far short of the 25% she needed to secure a guaranteed spot on the September primary ballot.
Instead, she said, she will try to petition her way onto the ballot.
Frequent Cuomo foe and Nixon friend Mayor de Blasio was asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” if he thought Nixon could win.
“Yes. Absolutely yes. Progressives and the change-agents in the party and the people who did not accept the previous status quo have the wind at their back,” he said.