NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- Gov. Kathy Hochul ripped into Rep. George Santos on Thursday for sponsoring legislation in Congress that would enshrine the AR-15 as the “National Gun of America.”
“It's outrageous and appalling that New York Congressman Santos would attach his name to legislation that would designate the AR-15 as the ‘national gun of the United States,’” the governor said in a statement.
“This weapon of war has been used in mass shootings across the United States,” the governor continued, “from my hometown of Buffalo, where the shooter used a modified AR-15 to murder ten people in a despicable act of white supremacist terrorism, to Parkland, Florida, where the shooter killed seventeen innocent people with an AR-15-style weapon.”
The legislation in question was introduced last Friday and unveiled this week by Republican Rep. Barry Moore, of Alabama. Records show Santos is a cosponsor of the bill, along with fellow Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert, of Colorado, and Andrew Clyde, of Georgia.
While the full text of the bill hasn’t been provided to the House, congressional records show it aims to “declare an AR-15 style rifle chambered in a .223 Remington round or a 5.56x45mm NATO round to be the National Gun of the United States.”
Santos has not directly addressed his support for the legislation.
In her statement, Hochul called on him to pull his support for the bill.
“This bill, which attempts to glorify the weapons that have been part of such horrific tragedies, adds unforgivable insult to injury for those families,” the governor said. “It should never become law, and Congressman Santos should immediately remove his name from it, if he has any respect for New Yorkers.”
Santos was among several Republican lawmakers who wore lapel pins on the House floor that depicted an AR-15 style rifle, sparking outrage among some Democrats.
Semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 have been one of the main focuses of gun control advocates, who’ve noted they’ve been the weapon of choice in some of the most deadly mass shootings.
Just this month, President Joe Biden reiterated his calls for a ban on the weapons, which were banned in the U.S. from 1994 to 2004.
After the deadly mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket last May by a teenage white supremacist, New York legislators quickly passed a law banning semiautomatic rifle sales to most people under age 21.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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