New York Senator moves rifles from under her bed after their location is disclosed in news interview

[Jenna]

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has moved the two rifles that she kept under the bed to protect her upstate New York home, her spokesman said Monday.

"Given that the location of the guns has been disclosed, they have been moved for security reasons," Gillibrand's spokesman Matt Canter said.

She relocated the guns over the weekend while upstate to endorse Democrat Scott Murphy in the March 31 election to replace her in the 20th District, he said.

He also said Gillibrand, mother of a 5-year-old and an infant, kept the ammunition separate from the empty guns, and then later called to add that the rifles were locked in a case while stored under the bed. She had refused to describe her gun safety measures.


Gun-control activists questioned the safety of placing guns under a bed where children can find them and burglars look first. The National Rifle Association said it is up to gun owners to safely store weapons.

Gillibrand disclosed she had guns under her bed in an interview with Newsday last Thursday. A Newsday story on the interview ran Monday, prompting reactions by advocates for gun rights and gun control.

Gov. David A. Paterson, Sen. Charles Schumer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg declined to comment through their aides.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), a gun-control activist threatening a primary challenge to Gillibrand over her pro-gun stance, said Friday said she does not criticize legally owned guns. McCarthy added, "I hope the guns didn't have bullets in them."

Rep. Pete King (R-Seaford), who has said he might run against Gillibrand, joked, "With Kirsten Gillibrand keeping two rifles under the bed and Chuck Schumer being so anti-gun, Schumer and Gillibrand have to be the Senate's oddest couple."

Gillibrand said she will make her first visit as U.S. senator to Long Island Friday. The trip's details haven't been released.

Gillibrand also has not replied to requests for a meeting by New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, said the group's executive director, Jackie Hilly.

As a result, Hilly said, the group will hold a rally on New York's City Hall steps Thursday to urge Gillibrand to work to pass three gun control bills. It will feature Lois Schaffer, a Great Neck woman whose daughter was shot and killed in her St. Louis home last December by teens with a stolen gun.

Long Islanders both criticized and defended Gillibrand.

"I am very upset about the whole thing," said Joyce Gorycki of Mineola, widow of a Long Island Rail Road official killed in the 1993 train shooting and co-chair of Long Island's New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. "I don't know why she needs two rifles."

But Tomasz Lorenc of Glen Cove, shopping at American Outdoor Sports in Farmingdale, said, "More power to her. There's nothing wrong with that. You have the right to bear arms."

Meanwhile, a search of the Lexis-Nexis database showed that Gillibrand has a Montana hunting license. But Canter said it's actually a fishing license.

BY TOM BRUNE

Staff writer Ari Goldstein contributed to this story.

Gillibrand removes guns from under bed -- Newsday.com

[Five-0]

Gun-control activists questioned the safety of placing guns under a bed where children can find them and burglars look first. The National Rifle Association said it is up to gun owners to safely store weapons.

Heaven forbid that they come looking around my house. I dare say, I am almost armed by default in just about any room in the house.

[Cidp24]

You know, I really wonder what it is like to be a "non-gun" person. I, like Five-o, am also "armed by default" almost anywhere in my house. What would Joyce Gorycki think/say about me, sitting in my den, watching American Idol and playing on the computer, with my BUG in my pocket and an XD-40 on the lower shelf of the table beside me (still have my work pants on)? I bet she would have a conniption.

[TXCharlie]

How is it protection to have unloaded guns locked up in a case under the bed???

If she isn't going to load them and have them stored where they can be quickly used, then she'd be better off keeping a baseball bat next to her bed.

There's nothing wrong with keeping them loaded and in a small touch-pad safe or a Life Jacket gun lock (or both for extra security against the 5-year-old).

[Five-0]

You know, I really wonder what it is like to be a "non-gun" person. I, like Five-o, am also "armed by default" almost anywhere in my house. What would Joyce Gorycki would think/say about me, sitting in my den, watching American Idol and playing on the computer, with my BUG in my pocket and an XD-40 on the lower shelf of the table beside me? I bet she would have a conniption.

If she was sitting in said living room she better keep her mouth shut.

[Jenna]

You know, I really wonder what it is like to be a "non-gun" person. I, like Five-o, am also "armed by default" almost anywhere in my house. What would Joyce Gorycki would think/say about me, sitting in my den, watching American Idol and playing on the computer, with my BUG in my pocket and an XD-40 on the lower shelf of the table beside me (still have my work pants on)? I bet she would have a conniption.

If she was sitting in said living room she better keep her mouth shut.

[MacLean]

You know, I really wonder what it is like to be a "non-gun" person. I, like Five-o, am also "armed by default" almost anywhere in my house. What would Joyce Gorycki think/say about me, sitting in my den, watching American Idol and playing on the computer, with my BUG in my pocket and an XD-40 on the lower shelf of the table beside me (still have my work pants on)? I bet she would have a conniption.

Same thing she'd say about me.

After I'm dead, though. It's always after they are dead that they possessed an "arsenal."

[pgg]

Not me, I have no guns. I keep my issued weapons locked up at work so they won't run away and shoot minorities and children as gun have been known to do at random

[Ryan]

When I am not within arms reach of one of my guns it is in a life jacket so my daughter can't hurt herself or someone else...er should I say so that they don't aim themselves at my daughter and go off for no reason tragically killing her. I do not, however, hide my long guns. My shotgun is stood right next to my bed so that hopefully I can have time to "point and click" before anyone gets to my room. I don't understand people who buy a gun for protection, then leave it unloaded. Do they live in a special world where bad guys knock and announce, wait for them to find the weapon, load it, and aim?

[TXCharlie]

I would add that it's a good idea to hide the gun so an intruder can't see it while you're sleeping...

There have been incidents where an intruder came in while the homeowner was sleeping with the gun next to them on the night table, or leaning against a wall. In some of those cases the homeowner was shot or terrorized with his own gun.

[Cidp24]

2 1/2 Jack Russells sleep in my bedroom. They go absolutley nuts when I walk in the house, let alone a stranger. I doubt someone would make it past opening the door before I would be alerted.

[Ryan]

My dog sleeps in my room as well. No one could even breathe on the front door before he was barking his head off

[Five-0]

I would add that it's a good idea to hide the gun so an intruder can't see it while you're sleeping...

There have been incidents where an intruder came in while the homeowner was sleeping with the gun next to them on the night table, or leaning against a wall. In some of those cases the homeowner was shot or terrorized with his own gun.

The one you can see is unloaded and called bait. Furthermore, I don't sleep, I just blink for long periods of time at night.

[TXCharlie]

The one you can see is unloaded and called bait. Furthermore, I don't sleep, I just blink for long periods of time at night.

This one would make good bait, with the added advantage of keeping it loaded with the safety off

[Morris]

Leave it to a bunch of bed-wetting NYC folks to cry about the fact she exercises her maker given rights.

Funny how none of them have the balls to tell her this stuff to her face. Instead, they cry and pee on themselves on the city hall steps.