Rep Gillibrand: The Best Choice

The WSJ:

New York’s Gov. David Paterson appointed U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, a politician little known outside the state, to be its next senator. But her advocacy for gun owners has already set in motion vows from liberals that a fellow Democrat will challenge her come a special election next year…

…Ms. Gillibrand indicated Friday that she wouldn’t back down on that front. She is a member of the centrist Blue Dog Democrats, and gets an “A” from the National Rifle Association. That grade-A rating has inflamed Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island, a staunch gun-control advocate, who said she’ll oppose the new senator. Ms. McCarthy’s husband was killed and her son was seriously injured in 1993 when a gunman opened fire on the Long Island Railroad, killing five other people…

This post may seem somewhat off message on this blog, but there is a good reason for it.  In terms of full disclosure, yours truly and the Wife are having a house built in upstate New York, in what was Ms Gillibrand’s district.  So we have gotten to know parts of it very well.

The invective directed at Rep Gillibrand over her “pro-gun” position, such as that coming from Rep McCarthy, is wholly unfair.  Originally from Long Island, yours truly also remembers well the LIRR massacre (at the hands of a man who procured the gun on the other side of the country and brought it into the state), and Rep McCarthy’s devastating and unbelievable personal loss.  We are not gun owners either (we live in Britain, don’t forget) and are very unlikely to be when living in New York someday.  (The Wife loathes them.)

However, there is another side of the “gun” story.  Rep Gillibrand’s district covers a huge geographic area and includes some of the most remote areas of the state.  Aside from people engaging in “rural pursuits” (i.e. hunting), even in some “towns” you could easily be a quarter mile, or more, from a neighbor.  And who knows how far also from the nearest state trooper barracks?  20 minutes?  30 minutes?

If one has never experienced what it is like to be about to turn in for a night, only to suddenly hear an unexpected vehicle approach your house up your gravel drive, and then you spot what seems several men emerging in the dark and starting to mill around on your property, if you’ve never known how it feels to be totally isolated and, yes, vulnerable, you just don’t understand.

Therefore, in the “gun owning” sense, Rep Gillibrand’s outlook and representation generally conformed to the views held by probably most of her district’s constituents.

In contrast, in Rep McCarthy’s Mineola district on Long Island, in many places you could lean out of an upstairs bedroom window, spit, and hit your neighbor’s house.  After dialing 911, Nassau County police are in all likelihood within 5 minutes’ response time from the moment you put down the phone.  And hunting is rather difficult on Long Island: for one thing, deer find it tough to hide in shopping mall parking lots.

Soon to be Sen Gillibrand is “upstate,” and Sen Schumer is “downstate.”  (His congressional district, before he became senator, remember, was in Brooklyn.)  Together, they effectively will represent the whole state.  Thus she is an excellent choice, and Gov Paterson is to be commended: the last thing the state needed was another “downstater” in Caroline Kennedy.