After a community college shooting left 10 people dead, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the 2016 presidential candidates — both parties — should be talking about gun control.
At the same time, Cuomo is calling on Democrats nationally to take a page from the GOP playbook and threaten a government shutdown over gun control.
“I would like to see Hillary and the vice president and whoever else is in the race on both sides talk about this issue of guns and let’s have that as one of the top priorities,” Cuomo said during an interview on NY1. “Rather than the political blather that is now going on and let’s put some real issues on the agenda and let’s put at the top: What are you going to do about guns?”
Cuomo himself, of course, was listed as a potential presidential contender, but ultimately stayed on the sidelines and has endorsed Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and U.S. senator from New York.
Cuomo condemned the latest mass shooting, saying it was “discouraging” lawmakers at the federal level are yet to act on stemming gun violence in the country.
“It is really sad and tragic and discouraging,” he said. “It is such a blatant failure of our political system and frankly such a blatant failure of the elected officials in this country.”
Cuomo touted the package of gun control laws he pushed through in 2013 as “the best” in the nation, which came in the wake of an elementary school shooting.
But the governor said that measure can only go so far, given illegal weapons can be driven in from out of state.
“I close the front door to guns, they open the back door,” Cuomo said. “We have learned nothing.”
The issue took on a new, more personal intensity for Cuomo following the death of Carey Gabay, an attorney in his administration who was killed after being shot in the head by a stray bullet in Brooklyn.
Gun control has become such a fervent concern for Cuomo — who has blasted Washington, D.C. gridlock in contrast to Albany’s recent legislative output — that he would support the risk of a government shutdown if it meant passing new federal legislation.
“I’d love to see the Democrats stand up and say we’re going to shut down the government or threaten to shut down the government if we don’t get real gun control legislation,” Cuomo said. “It should be that high a priority.”
http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2015/10/cuomo-wants-gun-control-to-be-issue-in-2016-campaign/
LMAO!!! Go ahead! Shut down the government. Push us and we’ll make it a permanent government shutdown.
hey can anyone answer me this ?
Why do I feel so much safer going into gun shows than I do walking into a public school, college or movie theater?
If guns kill people how does anyone get out of a gun show alive?
Yeah, I agree shut it the hell down, and dock all their pay until they serve the people