December 14, 2015
NEW YORK, NY – Appearing in New York City over the weekend, Governor Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer called on the federal government to release the names to states, of those who are on the terror watch list, so that those suspected of being potential terrorists, cannot buy weapons. “Governor Cuomo is ready to support legislation at the state level that would prevent those on the terrorist watch list from purchasing guns here in New York State,” said Senator Schumer. “That’s a great thing, but there is one problem. We need access to the terrorist watch list and it is classified and I’ve spoken to the Department of Justice and it’s not immediately accessible.”
Governor Cuomo said that the new reality is that when it comes to terrorism, we are facing a growing threat. “At one time terrorism was in the Middle East, it was over there, it was 6,000 miles away. It was oceans away and you would read about it in the newspaper, but you really couldn’t see it as a New York present threat. Just in the past few weeks, Paris, San Bernardino, it’s changed. The hate has discovered the internet and the internet has made the 6,000 miles disappear and it’s a conduit for the hate to travel across the oceans and its present in communities all across the United States and countries around the globe and we are seeing it manifest itself almost every week. I’m afraid, frankly, that it’s going to get worse, it’s not going to get better.
“We have to act. We have to act quickly, we have to act smartly and it is sheer madness what we are doing now. You can be a suspected terrorist and it is not illegal to possess a firearm or explosives and that’s not my words, that’s not a Democrat’s words, that’s not a Governor’s words, that’s the GAO said that. The GAO did a study over the past 10 years, 2,000 suspected terrorists went to buy a gun in this country. Of the 2,000 suspected terrorists, over 90 percent were granted the right to buy a gun. I mean, think about it. It is a basic breach of national security”
