ALBANY — Thousands of angry opponents of New York’s new gun-control law rallied outside the Capitol yesterday to vent their anger at Gov. Cuomo and demand a repeal of the state’s strict new rules on guns.
The rally featured National Rifle Association President David Keene, who ridiculed Cuomo as a “a bad penny” from the Clinton administration whom he said didn’t understand the Constitution.
“We know the Second Amendment doesn’t just apply to squirrel hunting,” Keene told the crowd as he vowed to help overturn the law in court and defeat the lawmakers who voted for it.
“What’s happened in New York is outrageous,” Keene said after the rally. “Nothing in the legislation that he’s passed is going to prevent another Newtown.”
The protest drew a crowd of more than 5,000, according to State Police, and while the protesters were peaceful, their signs were not subtle. One even featured a likeness of Cuomo as Hitler that read: “All in favor of gun control, please raise your right hand.”
Holding the sign was Eric Schroader, a 50-year-old dentist from Buffalo.
“He’s doing the same thing [as Hitler]. This is how it started. Take the guns away from people, and they don’t have a way to defend themselves against tyranny,” Schroader said.
Gun owner Melbourne Sann, from upstate Rome, said he was ready to leave New York because of the law.
“I will move out of this state if it is not changed,” Sann said, clasping an empty 30-round magazine — the kind Adam Lanza used in his December massacre in Newtown, Conn.
Cuomo brushed off the rally and said about 70 percent of people in the state support gun control.
“It’s not about taking away anyone’s gun,” he said yesterday, calling the law a “reasonable approach.”