Glenn E. Meyer
New member
At Kmart, an Anti-Gun Vigil Draws a Larger
Counterprotest
By JUAN FORERO
he plan, anti-gun protesters said, was for a peaceful prayer vigil, a calm but
determined way to demonstrate their displeasure with the sprawling Kmart
store in Riverhead, on Long Island, for selling hunting rifles. But instead of
quiet prayers and reflection, the 50 anti-gun demonstrators who arrived at the
store on Route 58 yesterday afternoon were confronted by more than 200 noisy
counterdemonstrators who drowned out the vigil with chants and taunts.
"There were a lot more of them than us," said Joyce Gorycki, a gun control
advocate from Mineola whose husband, James Gorycki, was fatally shot by Colin
Ferguson on the Long Island Rail Road in December 1993. "They must have faxed
every N.R.A. member in the New York metro area, as they usually do."
Bob Baumann, Long Island regional director for the New York State Rifle and
Pistol Association, said gun control opponents were determined to counter the
efforts of gun control advocates to pressure Kmart on selling firearms.
Last year, the newly built Kmart in Bridgehampton agreed not to sell firearms after
gun control advocates met with Kmart management. Kmart also announced that a
store being built in Huntington would not sell guns.
"They wanted to stop firearms sales there, and they succeeded," Mr. Baumann
said of the Bridgehampton store. "We feel that it's one kind of a multi-pronged
attack against legal gun ownership. If they can't get civilian ownership of firearms
banned legislatively, they'll do it in other ways."
Although most Kmarts on Long Island and nationwide sell firearms, Mr. Baumann
said gun rights groups have felt that the efforts of firearms opponents on Long
Island have been encroaching on their rights, and they were determined to be
heard.
So when firearms opponents first protested in front of the Riverhead store on Feb.
20, pro-gun groups arrived to counter them. Yesterday, though, the number of gun
control opponents was especially large and vocal.
"They started their spiel, and we started our counterchants," Mr. Baumann
explained. "They were surrounded by pro-gunners."
Demonstrators on both sides said there was no physical confrontation or arrests.
But anti-gun advocates complained that they felt bullied by the other side.
"For the first time, they had bullhorns, and they used them," said Michael O'Neal,
chairman of Suffolk County New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, one of the
organizers of the vigil. "There were 200 or 300 of them out there already. When
they see our rag-tag group out there, it fills them with derision and power
Counterprotest
By JUAN FORERO
he plan, anti-gun protesters said, was for a peaceful prayer vigil, a calm but
determined way to demonstrate their displeasure with the sprawling Kmart
store in Riverhead, on Long Island, for selling hunting rifles. But instead of
quiet prayers and reflection, the 50 anti-gun demonstrators who arrived at the
store on Route 58 yesterday afternoon were confronted by more than 200 noisy
counterdemonstrators who drowned out the vigil with chants and taunts.
"There were a lot more of them than us," said Joyce Gorycki, a gun control
advocate from Mineola whose husband, James Gorycki, was fatally shot by Colin
Ferguson on the Long Island Rail Road in December 1993. "They must have faxed
every N.R.A. member in the New York metro area, as they usually do."
Bob Baumann, Long Island regional director for the New York State Rifle and
Pistol Association, said gun control opponents were determined to counter the
efforts of gun control advocates to pressure Kmart on selling firearms.
Last year, the newly built Kmart in Bridgehampton agreed not to sell firearms after
gun control advocates met with Kmart management. Kmart also announced that a
store being built in Huntington would not sell guns.
"They wanted to stop firearms sales there, and they succeeded," Mr. Baumann
said of the Bridgehampton store. "We feel that it's one kind of a multi-pronged
attack against legal gun ownership. If they can't get civilian ownership of firearms
banned legislatively, they'll do it in other ways."
Although most Kmarts on Long Island and nationwide sell firearms, Mr. Baumann
said gun rights groups have felt that the efforts of firearms opponents on Long
Island have been encroaching on their rights, and they were determined to be
heard.
So when firearms opponents first protested in front of the Riverhead store on Feb.
20, pro-gun groups arrived to counter them. Yesterday, though, the number of gun
control opponents was especially large and vocal.
"They started their spiel, and we started our counterchants," Mr. Baumann
explained. "They were surrounded by pro-gunners."
Demonstrators on both sides said there was no physical confrontation or arrests.
But anti-gun advocates complained that they felt bullied by the other side.
"For the first time, they had bullhorns, and they used them," said Michael O'Neal,
chairman of Suffolk County New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, one of the
organizers of the vigil. "There were 200 or 300 of them out there already. When
they see our rag-tag group out there, it fills them with derision and power