A bad thing never comes alone. Attacked in the heart by the COVID-19 pandemic, New York State has also been facing another charge this week from the National Rifle Association (NRA).
The powerful gun lobby in the United States has decided to prosecute Governor Andrew Cuomo, on the front line to contain the proliferation of the virus on his territory. The group accuses him of violating the “fundamental right” of Americans to be able to buy a firearm to defend themselves, a right protected by the second amendment of the Constitution, and this, because of the exclusion of gun shops from the list. essential services authorized to keep their doors open during the current health crisis.
As of March 20 in New York State, only grocery stores, liquor merchants, drugstores and gas stations can do this, to reduce travel and force physical distancing of residents of the state, the most affected by the spread of the coronavirus, from coast to coast.
“No one who has used a weapon for his personal defense would dare say that it is not essential,” said Wayne LaPierre, director general of the NRA, in the minutes which followed the filing of the lawsuit against the state Thursday.
The NRA decided last week to also take California to court for similar reasons. The governor of this western state removed arms dealers from businesses authorized to remain open during the period of self-containment of the population.
Take advantage of the crisis
Since the onset of the health crisis, the arms lobby has been actively seeking the White House and the Department of National Security to include the sale of arms on the list of essential goods, the government reported a few days ago. Wall Street Journal. He thus wishes to force the reopening of these businesses.
Online sales are still permitted and are doing well. In March, Americans bought 2 million guns, federal data shows. The number of criminal background check requests for such a purchase also jumped more than 41% between March 2020 and the same time last year, according to the most recent FBI figures.
For the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, the NRA is “incredibly irresponsible during this crisis”, since it seeks nothing more than to exploit “uncertainty and fear, to incite panic to increase its sales of ‘guns’, told the Duty Andrew Patrick, spokesperson for this organization which campaigns for better gun control in the United States.
“They call themselves patriots, but they are the opposite,” he adds. In an era when Americans are told to stay home, the NRA and the larger gun lobby are instead calling on people to get out and shop. Not food or medicine, but something that will inevitably make their home less safe. “
A worsening balance sheet
For nearly two weeks, New York State has put all activities on hiatus and ordered its people to stay at home to reduce their travel to essentials. Governor Cuomo on Friday announced that the death toll there had jumped dramatically 23% in less than 24 hours to approach the 3,000 death mark. In the state, more than 100,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus to date, particularly in New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States.
Far from the arms trade, the authorities are especially concerned about the supply of medical equipment in the territory. Thus, the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, announced Friday that the city was at the dawn of “D-Day”, the time when the pandemic will exceed the resources of the medical system. “I don’t see, honestly, how we’re going to have the professionals we need to get through this crisis,” he said on MSNBC Friday morning.
New York State Attorney Letitia James said in a statement Thursday that “everyone – including the NRA – must obey the law and all New York executive orders.” And to add: “We will fiercely defend the State against this new legal aggression of the NRA. “
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