This video and transcript that follows is the complete closing statement of the Honorable Thomas J. Abinanti, representing Westchester County, NY. As you will see and read, he has a definite opinion on gun rights and gun owners. Portions of this video you have already seen in the previous entries. I am sorry for the length at 13 minutes. The transcript is equally long but either provide a glimpse into the mindset of those who dislike gun ownership.
Video #3: Thomas J. Abinanti - Closing Statement
Begin Transcript
Speaker: Mr. Abinanti.
Thomas J. Abinanti: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, first of all will the sponsor yield for a certain question?
Speaker: Will you yield?
Joe Lentol (bill sponsor, not visible): Yes, I will, Mr Speaker.
Thomas J. Abinanti: Uh, Mr. Chaiman, I like to refer to you to the section that deals with, um, safe storage. I just want to confirm that my understanding is (correct), that there is no language here that preempts a locality from having a stronger piece of legislation by local law, um, which would require gun owners to safely store their guns.
Joe Lentol: Right. There is no presumption by implication on this issue.
Thomas J. Abinanti: There's no preemption by implication and there's no specific language preempting it. Um, no expressed preemption and no preemption by implication.
Joe Lentol: That's correct.
Thomas J. Abinanti: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr.Speaker, um, in another time and another place, a modern poet named Bob Dylan, if I can call him a poet, said "How many deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died?". Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, it's taken far too many deaths to get us to this point.
Gun violence is plaguing all of our communities. In many different ways. Whether it's guns on the street or whether it's people with mental problems killing lots people at once. I'm somewhat concerned that I'm hearing from some members here, "Well, it hasn't happened in New York, therefore there's no basis for the law that we're considering today". It happened in Connecticut. It's happened throughout the country.
I have lists and lists of kids who've have been killed around this country. And it wasn't just in Connecticut. Going back to 80s, the70s, this is not a new phenomena. It's time we stepped to protect the people in our state. Every one of these incidents affects all of us and every one these incidents sets the stage for the next one.
We need an effective, common sense plan. I would suggest that we need to keep guns away from those who would misuse them. Remove the opportunity. Don't have them there. Ban the military-style weapons. Register all guns. Regulate their transfer. Mandate that the all guns in this state must be securely stored. Carefully license every gun owner. Train them in gun safety and check them periodically to make sure they still qualify. That doesn't repeal the 2nd Amendment. It just makes it work for everyone.
Secondly, we use, we need to use more mental health professionals in our communities. To minimize the likelihood of violence. When we deal with budget time, I challenge my colleagues to join me in putting more money in the budget for mental health facilities rather than cutting the government services that are out there today.
And lastly, I think we need to change our culture and the political dynamic. Let's stop glorifying violence, guns and those who use them. All I hear, today, is we need to have these weapons to defend ourselves. Well, we're not going to be invaded by an army. The reasonable gun owners that I talk to tell me that they want one gun with one bullet. They're gonna lock themselves in their bedroom and if that guy comes in, that's when they pull the trigger. In the meantime, they are calling the police.
I've been told that by woman after woman after woman. Who is concerned about the violence that we have today. And are reasonable gun owners who have licenses.
And who say they not, they don't want further more violence, they just want to protect themselves. They know enough to retreat, and then if necessary if the police don't get there in time, they then have their protection. And they're doing that without endangering the rest of the society.
Mr. Speaker, guns are not toys and we gotta to stop treating them like toys. Guns are made to kill people and assault weapons to kill a lot of people. So why are we shocked when they're used for their intended purposes? We allow civilians to arm themselves for war. Why are we shocked when they act like they're in the middle of a war?
The answer is not more violence. The answer is to make sure that we have reasonable gun laws. The answer is not to arm everyone so the gun manufacturers can make more money and more people die. The 2nd Amendment does not guarantee the right to bear arms to kill innocent firefighters, teachers and children. And that's the message we have to send.
We are under siege by those who misuse guns. No one is safe in this country until we get reasonable gun laws. Lax gun laws are literally killing us. We need to stop the violence now.
It's been said that a camel is a horse drawn by committee. Well Mr. Chairman, this legislation was drawn by a big committee. By a lot of people with a lot of disparate interests. We did not get a race horse. We got a camel. And this camel is carrying us in the right direction. And it'll bring us to a safer place. But it's taking us very slowly.
Some of my colleagues have pointed out some of the defects in this legislation and therefore they say "Do nothing.". No, I suggest we put in some future legislation. If, if there is a problem, if we are not restricting enough guns because some are still out there, if we're not taking guns away, we're not taking all assault weapons away, well then I challenge my colleagues, join me. I'll put in legislation that says "None of these guns at all. Period.". If that's a problem with this legislation, because those of us that wanted stronger anti-gun violence measures, compromised with those who don't want anything at all and you're saying that's bad? Well then fine, let's fix it. I'll be glad to carry that legislation.
But the drafters of this legislation tried to accommodate all interests. And tried to, to quell the concerns of the 2nd Amendment advocates. So you ended up with legislation which is not as strong as it could be. But it's a step forward. We're going in the right direction and we're sending a message.
You know, I hear over and over again about lawful gun owners. Who have legally owned guns. It strikes me, that all guns somewhere along the way, started off as legal and in the hands of a lawful gun owner. But somehow it ended up the hands of someone who misses uses it. So enough with the legal gun owners. I am tired of hearing about legal, lawful gun owners.
Some legal, lawful gun owner allowed her kid to get his hands on her, uh, assault rifle in Connecticut. And everywhere else, these little kids who are shooting other students, who going in the classrooms with guns, didn't buy these guns themselves. They got them from lawful gun owners. Supposedly responsible gun owners. And every one of these crimes that we're talking about are done with guns that started off legally. The problem is, we as a government, have not kept them in the hands of lawful people. We've allowed them get out their, other hands.
We in Westchester County have a law that says every gun owner has to have every gun safely stored. So that it cannot be stolen, that it cannot get into the hands of someone with mental problem, it cannot get into the hands of kids. Why are we not considering that for the entire state? Why do we have this narrow, narrow exception in here?
Why? Because the people who, are supposedly 2nd Amendment believers have blocked us from putting that legislation forward. That's why.
You know there are some other problems with this, Mr. Speaker as well. Um, some people interpret the 2nd Amendment, which is, uh, which they claim protects their right to, uh, to uh, to be armed. They also believes it gives them the right to secrecy. Uh, a newspaper in Westchester County actually revealed, put on-line, the list of all, the legal gun owners in Westchester County. And they got excoriated for it!
Because somehow, the mantra of the NRA, that your home is safer if you have a gun and it will deter somebody to come rob your house if they know you have a gun, now all of a sudden that doesn't matter any more! Now all of a sudden you have a right to secrecy.
What's going on?
What's really going on is people believe, somehow, that the 2nd Amendment is going to protect them from some excess of government out there. That this government is going to come in and lock them up. And they need to be armed.
Well Mr. Speaker, I prefer to use the power, not of the 2nd Amendment, but of the 1st Amendment. I believe freedom of the press and freedom of speech is the true champion and the true protector of democracy. And to say to the newspapers that they can't publish information that the public wants to know, I think is the true violation of our Constitution.
This bill contains restrictions which I think are intolerable. But I am going to vote for them because this is a compromise. I believe the newspapers should be able to list all of the people who have guns.
I would recognize some exceptions for undercover police officers and people like that who have put themselves on the line for our community and who really need to, to be, continue to be undercover. But I believe this is an infringement of the 1st Amendment. I prefer to rely on the 1st Amendment. And the newspaper I believe did us a favor.
Look, what is, how do we know about excessive government? How do we know that the persons issuing permits is not issuing them (phone rings) to someone who has a mental problem? Who is someone who should not have a gun. The only way we, we can control government is to know what it is doing. And now we're going to have this process which, which makes gun permits secret.
First and secondly, allowing public information enlists the public in the enforcement of the statutes. I'll will tell you right now, I looked at that database that the Journal News published in Westchester County. And I identified inaccuracies in the database. People who have moved still have guns registered at their old address. That is, the public now, can say to, to the officer who is licensing, you better send out a police officer and check that out.
You know, we passed a law in Westchester Country that requires recertification. We did back in 1995, 97. And the purpose of it was, so that the end of five years or any time in between, a police officer could go out and make sure the gun is there. And I'm not going to suggest to you that this recertification process is perfect. Cause it's not. But we had a situation in Westchester County, where if it had been done properly by the police department, it would have saved some lives.
We had a, a gentleman who is a lawful gun owner. Had his license, right up to the date he left the state of New York. And left the gun behind in the closet. Where it was found by the next person who sold it. It ended up being the weapon that killed somebody. The police, when they found out that this gentleman did not renew his license at the end of five years, went looking for him. And instead of tracing him to Florida and asking "Do you still have your gun?", they said "Case closed.".
Well, this law is going to, we're passing now is going to rely on the police department and individual citizens, to make sure, that those who lawfully have guns, follow and do, and perform not just their rights but their responsibilities as well. Guns are dangerous and innocent people suffer when they're misused.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak in favor of this legislation, um, hopefully this will bring us forward to a little bit of a better place. I think there's still a lot more that needs to be done. Those of us who want to stop gun violence are going to continue the efforts to move forward. But I urge an affirmative vote because I think this a very good piece of legislation, and deserves the support of this legislature.
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Abinanti.
End Transcript
I would like to apologize to anyone who cares about gun ownership who read this and/or watched that. Some of the contempt that I sense from Mr. Abinanti here is palpable. Remember, he is an elected representative.
I am very thankful to carver6666 on YouTube for uploading these videos! They provide a rare window into legislative process and debates I think more people should witness and listen to. If you're not upset by some of the things you hear in these conversations, regardless of what side you are on, you're not paying enough attention. There is enough in these videos to anger anyone who values and cares about their individual freedom.
I promise the acid taste you may feel in the back of your throat will be dealt with. The next series of videos will be from the Honorable Steven J. McLaughlin. This is a man after my own heart and whom should be held as role model for gun rights representation in any legislature in the country.
D.K.
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