New York State Assemblyman Greg Becker (21 AD) and opponent Pat Maher are currently preparing for their upcoming Sept. 15 primary for the Republican ticket to run against Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy of the 4th Congressional District. Interviews conducted and published in Garden City Life with each of the candidates covered issues from the development of the Nassau Hub to breast cancer research, but one issue was not yet touched upon --the gun issue. As these Republican candidates comment on what they personally perceive as the "one issue" administration of incumbent McCarthy (an accusation which McCarthy supporters and the Congresswoman herself have contested, stating in repeated interviews and press conferences that while this issue had inspired her to run initially, she has since sponsored legislation on other issues such as health care and education), Garden City Life conducted a follow-up interview with both of the primary candidates to establish their stand on this hot topic.

The Brady Bill, one of the most famous pieces of gun control legislation ever passed, was named for James S. Brady, former press secretary to Ronald Reagan, who was shot in the 1981 assassination attempt by John Hinckley. This famous bill contains a provision, which was adopted by Congress in 1993, which requires a 5-day waiting period to buy a handgun, but this provision was passed with an expiration date, Nov. 30, shortly after Election Day. The waiting period was designed to provide state authorities and local police officials the time to conduct background searches on the purchaser, to prevent convicted felons, for example, from purchasing a handgun.

The law also included a mandate on local law enforcement agencies that required these searches be conducted. The Supreme Court ruled in the fall of 1997 that this mandate was unconstitutional in the case of Printz and Mack v. United States, but the court did not rule on the constitutionality of the searches themselves. In fact, the National Rifle Association, an opponent of most regulatory legislation on firearms or gun ownership, has supported a national computerized instant check system, and has urged Congress to get the system online as fast as possible.

While the NRA supports these background checks, they have criticized the idea of a waiting period, which has also been called the "cooling off period" to serve not only as time to conduct a search, but to give the gun purchaser time to reflect on their desire to buy a gun and the motivations for this purchase. Congresswoman McCarthy has spoken in favor of maintaining a waiting period, rather than allowing the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to replace the waiting period. McCarthy and organizations like Handgun Control, Inc. and the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence have publicly stated that they believe the system should work in conjunction with a "cooling off period."

Congresswoman McCarthy has also proposed a bill that would require any parent whose child brandishes a weapon in public to be fined $10,000 and if the gun is used in a shooting, the parent could face six months in prison. Any gun dealer who sells to minors would have their licenses revoked and gun producers would have to equip all firearms with trigger locks (mechanisms which would be tested by the Consumer Product Safety Commission). Drop tests to ensure that guns will not go off accidentally when dropped would also be required of the manufacturers. Funds up to $150 million would be allocated for education in schools addressing gun safety and $25 million would be allocated over five years to track nationwide rates of injury related to guns.

As recently as the August issue of such publications as American Rifleman, Executive Vice-President Wayne LaPierre of the National Rife Association was discussing proposed provisions known as the "second phase" of the Brady Bill and legislation such as McCarthy's proposed bill, and arguing that these challenge the Second Ammendment to the Constitution. NRA President Charlton Heston even wrote The Second Amendment: What Every Kid Should Know targeted at kids, which appeared along with two other articles authored by Heston in the September 1997 issue of American Rifleman.

The debate between gun control advocates and the NRA has made headlines across the country and will certainly be an issue that the Representative of the 4th Congressional District will have to face. So where do Becker and Maher stand on this?

Becker's press secretary Joe Edwards said in an interview with Garden City Life that Becker for Congress, backed by Nassau County Republican Chairman Joe Mondello, the Conservative Party and the Right to Life Party, would support legislation that was tougher on the illegal purchase of firearms. He commented that the Brady Bill's provision of a "cooling off period," often under fire with the NRA "serves a good purpose" in helping people to analyze their intentions and not allow them to buy a gun in the heat of the moment. Edwards said that an extension of this part of the Brady Bill would not affect residents of Nassau County much, as the laws here are among the toughest in the nation as it is.

Edwards also commented on behalf of Becker that they support having legislation passed that would make the punishments for illegal purchasing, selling, and use of firearms more severe. "Improper use of firearms should be tougher." According to Edwards, Becker for Congress supports "any legislation that would keep guns out of the hands of children and make kids safer. Guns should be kept under lock and key. Greg supports trigger locks and any measure that makes our children safer."

Edwards also stated that they fully support the new computer system, which would instantaneously provide information on a potential gun purchaser. He added, "This FBI database would help gun shop owners keep guns out of the hands of criminals and help alleviate the problem of illegal use of guns."

He concluded, "People have a constitutional right to own a gun and that right should be preserved for law abiding citizens. We think any legislation that protects law abiding citizens from the illegal use of a firearm and illegal gunrunning is good legislation."

Pat Maher told Garden City Life that she believes, "what we need to do is address the issue of crime. Mandatory sentence guidelines need to be made to deter illegal gunrunning and the selling of guns to children." She said that she appeared on WGBB radio two weeks ago to speak publicly on this issue and at that time she said that she believed that 25 years to life ought to be the punishment for selling guns to minors, but admits that this would be a high goal "to shoot for" and in the legislative process the number of years would come down to something "that would more realistically get passed."

She said that when she sees cases like Amy Fisher's where she serves a stiff sentence for using a gun, but the adult who sold her the gun serves less than two years, she knows that federal guidelines need to be made to rectify this situation. She added that the differences in gun laws from county to county and state to state creates problems where people can buy a gun legally somewhere else and then bring home with them to a county where they would not have been sold a gun. She says that the attorneys for the NRA that she has spoken to agree that federal guidelines should be enacted to create a national standard. She said, "We need more uniform laws. There are places where people will plead guilty to a felony rather than face the penalty of illegally owning a handgun and then there are places where it's easy to purchase a gun."

Maher also stressed, "Not everybody who buys a gun is going to commit a crime. I believe that training should be administered, and while I know that the NRA opposes mandating such regulations through police forces, I think that their organization could be responsible for designing and administering the training under the supervision of the Nassau County Police Department here and local law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. Government funds could be allocated to support mandatory training."

When asked about mandating that guns be stored under lock and key, she stated, "Honestly, I want to see guns kept out of the hands of children, but part of me sees this picture of someone in their bedroom in the middle of the night who needs to access their legally owned firearm to protect their home and family and they can't get to it because it's locked in a cabinet. The idea that a kid could access the firearm scares me, but measures that keep the adult from necessary access scares me too." She also said that she does support trigger locks or some such child safety device that allows the trained adult to use the weapon if necessary, but renders it unusable to any child.

Maher is an independent Republican running for the primary and has recently been chosen as the Liberal Party's candidate for the Congressional election, so if she should lose the primary, she will still be on the ballot on Election Day. When asked if her support of legal gun ownership conflicted with the Liberal Party's views she said, "The Liberal Party's views generally coincide with those of moderate Republicans on issues like the environment, health care, and other basic needs. They asked me to interview with them and unanimously voted for me." She added, "The Liberal Party's pamphlet clearly states that 'the right to safety is the most basic civil right.' I am not a candidate who will succumb to political pressure; I take a stand and stick to it. I told them that I am pro legal gun ownership. I don't see that they're against legal gun ownership."

She concluded, "The Liberal Party wanted a candidate who would still campaign even if she or he lost the primary, which means that if Becker wins, I will not then be backing him. I will keep campaigning. They wanted an effective person who will go and work hard and be a responsible person and that's what I like about them."

The citizens of the 4th Congressional District who are registered Republicans will have an opportunity to express themselves in the voting booth on Sept. 15, when they will cast their votes for either Greg Becker or Pat Maher. Once the campaigning between the Democrat's choice and the Republican's choice for Congresswoman McCarthy's current seat in the House of Representatives begins, the gun issue will probably become a focal point of debate. With accusations flying that McCarthy focuses too much attention on the gun issue, it is these accusations that have determined that a tremendous amount of attention will be paid to guns. These interviews are only the beginning of a long campaign trail which will force all of the candidates to publicly analyze their views on this topic.