Since this story broke the Post has been running quite a few pro gun (for NY) editorials.
http://www.nypost.com/commentary/680.htm
STRAIGHT SHOOTER WANTS PERMIT FOR DAD
By DOUGLAS MONTERO
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IDLE TIME:
Bodega clerk José Acosta, who hasn't returned to work since shooting a stickup man, says, "I don't know who my enemy might be."
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June 9, 2003 -- IT WAS a robbers' sil- ver-barreled handgun aimed at his face that forever changed Adam Al-Ghaithi's life.
"This is the end," the 17-year-old high-school junior said to himself during a recent stickup. "I'm going to die - it's in God's hands."
Adam survived, and now he wants an NYPD gun permit for his father so their small Harlem grocery store can be protected legally.
Joan Rivers, Donald Trump, Howard Stern, Robert De Niro and other big shots somehow get permits - and they have the money to hire bodyguards.
Adam just has the American dream when he works at Assary grocery store on St. Nicholas Avenue and 127th Street.
That's why he went to Police Headquarters last week to get a gun-permit application for his father, an American citizen trying to make an honest buck.
He was given a nine-page application that takes about six months to a year to process. But deep in his heart - even if his dad goes through with it and pays the $329 application fee - Adam doesn't believe the NYPD will give his father permission to have a gun.
"After 9/11 they don't trust Arabs," said Adam, who's from Yemen, where his mother and siblings still live. "And, in my opinion, they won't give us a gun permit because of it."
"I think about getting an illegal gun and not giving a goddamn about the consequences," he said bluntly. "Look what happened - we were robbed, and I almost got killed."
Records show the NYPD is making it tougher for businesses to get gun permits. And Adam's sad, and obviously incorrect, belief that the police won't let them have a gun because they're Muslim shows how deep the mistrust runs among immigrants who run bodegas.
So it's no surprise that store owners get illegal weapons.
Adam says security cameras and a Plexiglas-enclosed counter - common security features at bodegas - didn't stop the robbers from bum-rushing his father's store. A gun was shoved in Adam's face because the cashier refused to open the counter door. "Open the door or I'll blow your f- - -ing head off," one of the three armed robbers said.
Adam now thinks any young man who walks into his store may be a potential robber.
But the hardest thing for the young man - who wants to go to college and pursue a career in law enforcement - is trying to explain to his father that a grocery store is the last place he wants to work.
Especially without a gun permit.
http://www.nypost.com/commentary/680.htm
STRAIGHT SHOOTER WANTS PERMIT FOR DAD
By DOUGLAS MONTERO
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IDLE TIME:
Bodega clerk José Acosta, who hasn't returned to work since shooting a stickup man, says, "I don't know who my enemy might be."
-
June 9, 2003 -- IT WAS a robbers' sil- ver-barreled handgun aimed at his face that forever changed Adam Al-Ghaithi's life.
"This is the end," the 17-year-old high-school junior said to himself during a recent stickup. "I'm going to die - it's in God's hands."
Adam survived, and now he wants an NYPD gun permit for his father so their small Harlem grocery store can be protected legally.
Joan Rivers, Donald Trump, Howard Stern, Robert De Niro and other big shots somehow get permits - and they have the money to hire bodyguards.
Adam just has the American dream when he works at Assary grocery store on St. Nicholas Avenue and 127th Street.
That's why he went to Police Headquarters last week to get a gun-permit application for his father, an American citizen trying to make an honest buck.
He was given a nine-page application that takes about six months to a year to process. But deep in his heart - even if his dad goes through with it and pays the $329 application fee - Adam doesn't believe the NYPD will give his father permission to have a gun.
"After 9/11 they don't trust Arabs," said Adam, who's from Yemen, where his mother and siblings still live. "And, in my opinion, they won't give us a gun permit because of it."
"I think about getting an illegal gun and not giving a goddamn about the consequences," he said bluntly. "Look what happened - we were robbed, and I almost got killed."
Records show the NYPD is making it tougher for businesses to get gun permits. And Adam's sad, and obviously incorrect, belief that the police won't let them have a gun because they're Muslim shows how deep the mistrust runs among immigrants who run bodegas.
So it's no surprise that store owners get illegal weapons.
Adam says security cameras and a Plexiglas-enclosed counter - common security features at bodegas - didn't stop the robbers from bum-rushing his father's store. A gun was shoved in Adam's face because the cashier refused to open the counter door. "Open the door or I'll blow your f- - -ing head off," one of the three armed robbers said.
Adam now thinks any young man who walks into his store may be a potential robber.
But the hardest thing for the young man - who wants to go to college and pursue a career in law enforcement - is trying to explain to his father that a grocery store is the last place he wants to work.
Especially without a gun permit.
