Democratic New York Representative Charlie Rangel, no stranger to hypocrisy, told The Daily Caller in an interview that while members of Congress “need” and “deserve” to be protected by guns, law-abiding citizens should not own guns.
Interviewed by The Daily Caller’s Kerry Pickett about NYPD officials arrested for exchanging expensive gifts and prostitutes in return for police escorts, privileged access and gun licenses, the exchange went like this:
Pickett: One of the things that people tend to wonder is that, hardly anybody, getting a concealed carry New York City permit is so rare, and the only people who tend to get it are very connected, very wealthy, or if you happen to know the right guy in the NYPD, he’ll help you out.
Rangel: That’s wrong, but I’m glad to hear you say that very few people can get it. We don’t need that many guns, I didn’t know that briberies were involved in getting a gun, and that is wrong, but overall, if it’s difficult to get a concealed weapon permit I’m glad to hear that.
Pickett: Then why is it that only the wealthy –
Rangel: That’s corruption.
Pickett: The wealthy celebrities, and then the people in your district, a number of them who are law-abiding citizens, many of them who would want to carry a concealed carry permit –
Rangel: I wouldn’t let them have it. I know what you’re trying to say. Corruption is corruption is bad.
Pickett: Let’s talk about that for a second. Why should, say, the uber-wealthy who have protection, have that protection, but individuals who are law-abiding citizens in your district should not?
Rangel: Well law-abiding citizens just shouldn’t have to carry a gun. You know that, so you’re not going to push me in that direction.
Pickett: But you’re protected by guns all over the place here in the Capitol.
Rangel, laughing: Well, that’s a little different. I think we deserve–I think we need to be protected down here.
As The Daily Caller notes of licensed guns in New York City: “The 37,000 issued licensees include prominent business leaders, elected officials, journalists, judges and attorneys.”