Governor Malloy today didn’t hold back when asked about the new National Rifle Association app. Christopher Keating of the Hartford Courant reports:
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ripped the controversial new NRA app for iPhones that helps young children to learn how to shoot.
Those using the app, which was released on Sunday near the one-month anniversary of the Newtown massacre, can fire military-style firearms like AK-47s and M-16s.
“How dumb can you get?” Malloy asked. “How insulting can you be? How outrageous can your behaviors be? How tone deaf can you be? You can quote any one of those.”
Talking to reporters outside his office at the state Capitol on Tuesday afternoon, Malloy added, “I’ve been on the app, and you can push a button and hear the sound of a gun going off. It’s offensive. I can assure you they didn’t call me before they chose the date.”
Malloy also said that he favors many of the items passed Monday night by the New York state Senate in Albany for stricter gun control in the post-Newtown era.
“We have talked about limiting magazines to a number less than 30,” Malloy said. “The assault weapons ban was 10. They’ve gone to 7. Sounds good to me.”
“They have broadened the definition of assault weapons,” Malloy said of the New York bill. “I’m trying to understand that exactly to make sure I understand correctly what they’ve done, but it makes sense to me. They’ve taken a step in the direction of universal gun permitting and background checks. On the background checks, it certainly makes perfect sense to me.”
He added, “Generally, it sounds good to me.”
The first meeting of Malloy’s special committee, chaired by the mayor of Hamden, will be at 10:30 a.m. on January 24 in Room 2C of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. The committee is expected to issue an interim report by March 15. The legislative “super committee” on guns–a separate task force–will be meeting Friday afternoon for the first time.
“My analysis of the New York legislation leads me to believe that some things will be done very rapidly,” Malloy said. “Other things may take additional time. … There will be plenty of time to get this thing done.”
A liberal group known as the Courage Campaign is calling upon Tim Cook, the chief executive officer of Apple, to drop the app from the NRA.
“This is a classic example of everything that is wrong with the NRA,” a Courage Campaign spokesman said in a statement. “Instead of coming to the table with constructive ideas to reduce gun violence, the NRA is instead developing a video game that glorifies guns and gun violence. It is yet another shameful example, in a long list of shameful examples, of the destructive role the NRA plays in reducing gun violence and making our schools, communities and streets safer. We are calling on Apple to reject this app. It has no business being in the hands of kids across this country.”
The NRA will stoop to fathomless, unsoundable lows when it comes to advancing the rights of weapons manufacturers and ironmongers.
And politicians will proselytize the evils of guns and rifles to get re-elected rather than address the problem of illegal guns in criminal hands. Have these flies and leeches go into the drug-infested neighborhoods and get the illegal weapons. See where that goes. I’ll bet, with rare exception, few of these politicians have ever fired a weapon, taken a weapons course or have a legitimate concealed carry permit. The NRA supports registration of weapons and licenses to carry. They also support the vetting process to eliminate those who should not have weapons. I hope to God you never get confronted by someone with an illegal weapon with intent upon doing you harm.
Governor Malloy should outlaw all gun shows in this state.
I’m bemused by the number of people who demonize the National Rifle Association and their advocacy be they politician, citizen group or individuals.
None of you have sent them to hell yet.
*** IT’S REALLY ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMIN$, NO? ***
Just when you think you’ve heard it all, the NRA creates an app to teach kids how to shoot. What are they thinking?
Since this shooter in Newtown would have not had guns if he couldn’t have stolen them from his mother, maybe we should just make it illegal for women to have guns.