NANUET — Former Rep. Mondaire Jones went after Rep. Mike Lawler on Tuesday for opposing or failing to support gun restrictions, speaking at a campaign event to contrast their views after last week’s deadly school shooting in Georgia.
Standing with gun-safety activists at a Democratic office in Rockland County, Jones blasted Lawler for voting with most House Republicans last year to overturn a new federal rule that tightens regulations on pistol-stabilizing braces, a device gunmen used in several mass shootings. The GOP-led House passed that attempted reversal, but the Democratic-led Senate blocked it.
Jones also faulted his opponent for not supporting the return of a ban on military-style rifles known as assault weapons, the kind used to kill two students and two teachers last week at Apalachee High School in Georgia and at previous mass shootings. A long-pending bill would outlaw those firearms, but it has only Democratic House sponsors and can’t advance this term without some Republican support.
“People are living in constant fear of being gunned down in schools, at their houses of worship, at their grocery store — which we saw happen in Buffalo a couple years ago — basically anywhere in American life,” Jones said at the press conference. “We have to do more to solve this problem, and the good news is we can do more to solve this problem.”
Jones, who held office in 2021 and 2022, is battling with Lawler for New York’s 17th Congressional District, a Hudson Valley swing seat that will help decide which party controls the House next year. Lawler won his seat two years ago and represents an area that takes in all of Rockland and Putnam counties and parts of Westchester and Dutchess.
Lawler claims ‘balanced, sensible approach’
Lawler’s campaign referred questions about his stance on gun control to his website.
The site touts his “balanced, sensible approach,” saying he supports gun-ownership rights while “cracking down on illegal guns and those who commit crimes with them.” Lawler sponsored a bill that extended for 10 years the “Undetectable Firearms Act” — a 1988 ban on guns that evade metal detectors, which must be renewed periodically and was set to expire.
Lawler’s site says he supports “red-flag” laws, which keep guns away from people found to be a danger to themselves or others — as long as those laws “mandate due process.” He also backs “prohibiting gun purchases by anyone with an outstanding warrant, and increasing penalties for the threat of mass harm.”
Jones and others who spoke at Tuesday’s press conference blasted Lawler’s stance as inadequate.
“Mike Lawler’s record on gun violence and gun safety is abysmal, extreme and out of step with the values of voters and residents here in the Lower Hudson Valley,” Jones said. “You would think he was representing a district in Mississippi or Texas.”
Lawler has lobbed similar charges of extremism at Jones in their combative race. Last month, he held a press conference — also in Nanuet, just a couple blocks from where Jones staged his event Tuesday — to rip Jones for past statements and a House vote that Lawler said were hostile to law enforcement, despite Jones’ rhetoric in support of police in his current race.
New York’s assault-weapons ban faces court challenge
Congress banned assault weapons in 1994, but the law expired in 2004 and periodic attempts by Democrats to reinstate it have failed. The House narrowly passed a ban in 2022 — with Jones among those voting in support — but the Senate failed to take it up then and narrowly voted it down last December.
New York is one of 10 states, plus Washington D.C., that have imposed their own restrictions on assault weapons since the federal ban expired. New York’s took effect in 2013, enacted as part of a gun law signed two months after a horrific school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that left 20 children and six adults dead.
Policing clash: Rep. Mike Lawler rips opponent Mondaire Jones for 2021 vote to let felons vote in prison
New York’s assault-weapons ban is now being challenged in federal court by Westchester County residents J. Mark Lane and James Sears. Their lawsuit, filed in District Court in White Plains in 2022, argues the law violates their Second Amendment rights and arbitrarily outlawed common semiautomatic rifles that had features that brand them as assault weapons, such as a pistol grip or folding stock.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mondaire Jones holds news conference on gun laws after Georgia shooting
Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
