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Virginia's "Bloomberg Gun Giveaway" Draws Hundreds
By
Jen Chung
Published May 18, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 18, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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A Para-Ordnance pistol and a Varmint Stalker rifle were the prizes two people won in a Virginia gun giveaway raffle to raise money for gun shop owners who Mayor Bloomberg alleges sell guns illegally and who the Mayor has filed a federal lawsuit against. The event, organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, was open to everyone except for Mayor Bloomberg and his immediate family. The Fairfax County government building attracted Bloomberg haters as well as the parents of some Virginia Tech shooting victims.
Last year, the Mayor started to aggressively target the gun dealers who would accept "straw purchases," ones where one person asks about the gun while another person, not involved in the question process, fills out paperwork and buys the gun. The AP reported on how one winner, Jay Minsky, a Fairfax resident who grew up in Brooklyn reacted: With an "obscene hand gesture" and saying, ""If he doesn't like people in New York having guns, he should deal with New York. Just keep out of Virginia."
A new law will go into effect in July that will make stings, such as the ones Mayor Bloomberg's team conducted, illegal (there's some question about whether some lawsuits will go forward). Bloomberg said of the giveaway, "I think it's sick, is the nicest ways to phrase it."
Photograph of David Reichenbacher, left, of Manassas, Va., and Kyle Cane, of Woodbridge, Va., at the gun giveaway by Jacquelyn Martin; Reichenbacher told the AP, "I'm the son of one of the first inter-racial couples in Virginia, so we had to keep [a gun] on hand growing up. If you need a gun you need a gun."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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