The National Rifle Association has worked itself up into such a bilious froth over modest gun control proposals that it has issued what looks like a death threat against New York lawmakers who support them. And New York’s Daily News called out the gun lobby on Tuesday’s cover, calling the threat an “Act of Terror.”
“Just before the fifth anniversary of Rep. Gabby Giffords being shot in the head by a mentally ill zealot, the NRA posts this photo, essentially suggesting two N.Y. pols who dared to support reasonable gun laws be gunned down,” the newspaper’s cover continued.
NRA publication @NRAA1F shows graphic with bullets next to pics of pro-gun control pols https://t.co/Prd6IfvGDT pic.twitter.com/R6uqbfMHgm
— Metro New York (@metronewyork) January 4, 2016
The NRA’s image, posted on Twitter and which the newspaper characterizes as “frighteningly suggestive,” shows Democratic State Sen. Roxanne Persaud and Democratic Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, both of Brooklyn, who support an ammunition limit for New York gun owners.
The lobby and its supporters are engaged in an almost Shakespearian public drama over a series of executive gun control measures that President Barack Obama is releasing Tuesday, side-stepping Congress in the process. They have unleashed melodramatic public comments urging Americans to arm themselves. Of course, the new measures don’t affect current gun owners.