Republican gubernatorial hopeful Lee Zeldin said the state ought to dump its red flag law, loosen permits for concealed weapons and allow New Yorkers to “stand your ground” at a campaign stop just weeks before a white supremacist allegedly gunned down 10 people in Buffalo.
“We should not have red flag laws. They are a very slippery slope that could be targeting you, law-abiding gun owners,” Zeldin said in a video published by Spectrum News.
A spokeswoman for Zeldin’s gubernatorial campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The state red flag law creates a process for law enforcement to remove weapons from the possession of people who have been deemed threats to themselves or others.
Reported lapses in the current law, however, allowed the alleged gunman in Buffalo to possess firearms despite threatening remarks he made in high school.
New York is also among the states that place the burden on individual citizens to prove they have a legally valid reason to have a concealed weapon compared to other states with looser standards.
“You should not have to prove to the government whether or not you get a permit. We need to change the standard from ‘may issue’ to ‘shall issue’ in this state,” Zeldin added in the video.
The putative front-runner for the GOP nomination for governor also touted his support for repealing the 2013 New York SAFE Act, which limits access to assault weapons and high-capacity magazines like those used in the Buffalo attack.
Zeldin, who has an “A” rating from the NRA, also spoke in support of implementing a controversial “stand your ground” law in the Empire State.
While doubling down on his calls to loosen state gun laws, Zeldin said “red flag laws shouldn’t target law-abiding New Yorkers” in a statement Spectrum News posted on Twitter.
Primary rivals seized on the controversy to make their own case that they would better protect Second Amendment rights while attacking rising crime ahead of the June 28 primary.
“Congressman Zeldin wants no restrictions for the mentally ill obtaining guns and has flip-flopped on gun rights … for the mentally ill, we need red flag laws with police discretion,” businessman Harry Wilson said in a statement.
Former Westchester Executive Rob Astorino told the Post that he wants to strengthen the red flag law while loosening rules around concealed weapons, which a state permit allows him to carry.
“I have no idea what his position is on the second amendment because he twists and turns and has voted to fund the SAFE Act, and then he wants to repeal it, or pretend he does. So I honestly have no idea what his position is on the Second Amendment,” Astorino said of Zeldin.
A fourth candidate in the GOP primary, Andrew Giuliani, declined to comment when reached by the Post Thursday about Zeldin’s comments in the bombshell video or his own positions on gun issues like the red flag law.
George Zimmerman, a Florida man who fatally shot black teen Trayvon Martin a decade ago, successfully leveraged a stand-your-ground statute as part of his successful effort to win acquittal on a murder charge.
Weeks after controversial remarks on abortion came to light, Zeldin’s gun comments are opening up another line of attack from Democrats as they campaign to defend one-party rule in Albany this November.
“Congress has been unable to enact common sense gun safety legislation because NRA-backed members of Congress like Lee Zeldin and former members like Kathy Hochul have fought against it for decades. As governor, I won’t flip-flop or pander to the extremes — I’ll stand up to the gun lobby and use common sense to keep New Yorkers safe,” Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) from Long Island, who is running against Gov. Kathy Hochul and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, said in a statement
Hochul deflected a question Wednesday about her past “A” rating from the NRA while representing a GOP-leaning district in western New York a decade ago hours after Suozzi criticized her.
“He’s nowhere close to a solution around gun violence and actually most of the solutions will make gun violence worse,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who is vying for the Democratic nomionation for governor, said Thursday of Zeldin’s comments.
And he added, “I’m not even sure if I’ve heard an apology from (Hochul) for the work she did on behalf of the NRA that has paid deadly dividends.
