from:prnewswire.com


Albany Machine Gun Scandal: Bloomberg Looking in Wrong Place, Says SAF

   BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The renewed scandal
involving alleged missing machine guns that had been secretly and illicitly
purchased by officers with the Albany, NY Police Department several years
ago suggests that if New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to go after
illegal guns, he need only drive up the Hudson River with his rogue
investigators and turn them loose, the Second Amendment Foundation said
today.

   The Albany Times Union reported this week that dozens of automatic
weapons, obtained apparently without approval by police officers in 1993
and 1994 -- during the first Clinton Administration -- were originally
thought to have been rounded up and destroyed a few years ago. But now, the
newspaper said, some of these guns are apparently still missing. One of the
guns was reportedly found at a Texas gun store. Another of the guns had
been obtained by an assistant district attorney, who ultimately turned it
in about four years ago. It was not explained why he had the gun in the
first place, but he certainly should have known better, SAF said.

   "While Mayor Bloomberg has been bullying gun shops in other states for
alleged illegal gun trafficking, he might want to send his vigilante
private investigators to harass the Keystone Kops of the Albany Police
Department," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. "And instead of suing gun
dealers for firearms that show up in New York City crimes, maybe he ought
to apologize to the citizens of Texas for the fact that an illicit Albany
machine gun showed up in their state.

   "Bloomberg and people like him repeatedly argue that one type of
firearm or another should be restricted to the police and military," he
continued. "This case, and similar ones in Oregon and Michigan where police
officers were charged with federal firearms violations, demonstrates just
how ridiculous that argument is. We're surprised that none of the officers
in the Albany scandal were prosecuted.

   "Perhaps the worst part about this scandal is that it is a black mark
against all the good, decent police officers out there who wouldn't dream
of being mixed up in something like this," Gottlieb observed. "Millions of
law- abiding American citizens, including thousands who currently own
fully- automatic firearms, have never been involved in anything remotely
similar to this fiasco, yet Mike Bloomberg wants to strip them of their gun
rights.

   "Contrary to what the Bloomberg Bunch says, maybe these guns should be
restricted to anybody but the police," Gottlieb concluded.

   The Second Amendment Foundation (http://www.saf.org) is the nation's
oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal
action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately
own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more
than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to
better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.