An AR-15 style pistol is fired at an outdoor range. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
(Tribune News Service) — Rep. George Santos has come under fire for co-sponsoring a bill that would make the AR-15 assault weapon the “national gun” of the U.S.
The Long Island Republican lawmaker is joining a push to lionize the weapon that has been used in many mass shootings in American workplaces and schools.
Santos, who has mostly faced attacks for his serial lying, had already worn a rifle lapel pin to Congress to show opposition to gun-control regulations like the proposed weapons ban that would keep AR-15s off the street.
Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., leaves a GOP caucus meeting on Capitol Hill on Jan. 25, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/TNS)
Now Santos has become one of three GOP co-sponsors of Alabama Rep. Barry Moore’s bill to give the AR-15 the unlikely title of the National Gun of the United States.
Gov. Kathy Hochul blasted Santos for ignoring the victims of mass shootings, like the racist attack on a Buffalo supermarket and the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre.
“This bill, which attempts to glorify the weapons that have been part of such horrific tragedies, adds unforgivable insult to injury for those families,” Hochul said in a statement. “It should never become law, and Santos should immediately remove his name from it, if he has any respect for New Yorkers.”
Semi-automatic assault weapons like the AR-15 have been one of the main targets of gun-control advocates because their main purpose is to unleash as many bullets as possible as quickly as possible.
President Joe Biden has called for a renewed ban on the weapons, which were banned in the U.S. from 1994 to 2004.
After the Buffalo shooting last spring, New York state legislators outlawed sales of semi-automatic weapons to most people under age 21, but gun-rights advocates vow to sue to overturn the law.
Democrats are using Santos as a poster boy in a $45 million campaign to win back the House by flipping no fewer than five seats in New York state alone.
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