imported post
Armed wrote:
Alexcabbie wrote:
Old Shecky Schumer was standing beside her at the announcement. And he said: "After she has seen the (devastation of "gun violence") in the larger cities, she will change her views to reflect those of the residents of the State as a whole".
His arrogance never ceases to amaze me.... :banghead:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/01/24/2009-01-24_paterson_should_celebrate_gun_victim_nya.html
As our new pro-gun rights senator visited
Harlem, an overflow crowd packed a
Brooklyn church for the funeral of a magical straight-A student who is the latest innocent to die by a bullet.
Super bright, witty and warm, 17-year-old Nyasia Pryear-Yard was killed a week ago when a punk fired into a crowded dance.
Her death clearly made no big impression on
Gov. Paterson. He went ahead and appointed
Kirsten Gillibrand as our new senator even though she has actively pushed legislation that would make it even harder to control illegal handguns.
At the news conference announcing the appointment, Paterson noted that the seat had been held previously by
Robert F. Kennedy. Paterson did not add that Kennedy had been murdered with a handgun.
Gillibrand sought to downplay her pro-gun record, pledging to work to "reduce gun violence and protect children, but also protect our hunters' rights."
She said she hails from a hunting clan. She was a touch Palin-esque as she reported her mom is "the best shot in the family" and often bags their Thanksgiving turkey.
But, like the
NRA, her major efforts in firearm regulation have had less to do with hunting weapons than with handguns, which turkey hunters are not even permitted to use in
New York State.
"You may not take a turkey with a rifle or handgun," state regulations say.
Gillibrand is not on record opposing gun control as it concerns turkey shooting.
But, regarding a realm where kids are routinely killed, she co-sponsored HR6691, which seeks to repeal all gun restrictions in the
District of Columbia beyond relatively lax federal law.
"The District of Columbia shall not have authority to enact laws or regulations that discourage or eliminate the private ownership or use of firearms," the bill states.
Mayor Bloomberg notes Gillibrand has also actively supported provisions that restrict police in assembling data on illegal guns.
Which makes you wonder how
Sen. Charles Schumer could have been on the stage at the news conference, cheering Gillibrand's appointment. Schumer sought to reassure us that her views on guns will "evolve."
The fact remains that Schumer lives just 16 blocks from where Nyasia was killed. He should have been back in Brooklyn, joining the 1,700 mourners who attended her wake.
The person he should have been extolling was the super bright, witty and warm honor student from
Nazareth Regional High School who now lay in a white coffin.
Nyasia's father is a court officer, and among the many who did extol her were his comrades, who remember her as Kings County Civil Court's answer to Eloise at the Plaza. She had been coming there after school since she was 4-years-old and they had watched her grow and blossom.
"Nyasia was King Civil's baby," said
Lt. Tawya Young. She had been by the court in the week before she was killed. "Smart, funny," Young said. "Beautiful as she always is."
Young was among those who stood in dress uniform outside St. Fortunata's Church on Saturday morning, giving a white-gloved salute as Nyasia's coffin was carried inside. A lone bagpiper played and overhead tolled the bell the pastor had taken to ringing in answer to the sound of gunshots and sirens. "Just to remind people God is with us," the
Rev. Vincent Miceli said.
Behind the coffin came the father,
Alberto Yard, and the mother,
Jennifer Pryear. The priest noted that children who lose parents are called orphans and those who lose a spouse are called widows or widowers "In no language in the world is there a word to describe the pain of a parent losing a child," he said. "How many more young people will die for no reason and what are you going to do about it?"
He described the world that all our leaders should be laboring to create.
"Where our children can play and be safe and go to parties," he said. "When our streets are safer, God's presence is among us."
As a lone voice sang "Ave Maria," the priest led the parents to a statue of the Blessed Mother, who herself lost a child.
The parents left a single red rose and followed their daughter's white coffin back into the cold with a hurt that has no name.
