Joe Lhota
[NYC: Mayoral Election 2013]
New York 1 News has broadcast a video of Joe Lhota, Republican NYC Mayor Candidate, tells Tea Party members that the process to get a gun permit in New York borders on “harassment.”
Lhota said: “The city of New York, though, goes to an extreme with their, bureaucracy is not even strong enough of a word, it’s almost a level of harassment at a certain point, and it needs to change….There’s something that should be fair and speedy about being able to get a gun permit.”
The campaign of Bill De Blasio, the Democratic candidate for mayor who has opened up a huge lead over Lhota, has issued an immediate statement:
“Joe Lhota likes to say he’s a different kind of Republican, but — yet again — he’s siding with the GOP fringe, this time against common sense measures to reduce gun violence. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the more New Yorkers hear from Joe Lhota, the more he reveals himself to be a typical Tea Party politician who is out of touch with New Yorkers. Unlike Joe Lhota, Bill de Blasio will stand up to the Tea Party and its allies at the NRA while working hard to strengthen New York and the nation’s gun control laws.”
In an appearance on New York 1 yesterday, Lhota defended his comments:
“People who legitimately need it, it’s getting harder and harder and harder for getting the renewal license, which is required, and it should be required once a year,” he said. “They shouldn’t be making it hard. These are not people with illegal guns.”
