An activist for bodega owners said he plans to hand out some 14,000 gun permit applications to the city’s stores so they can protect themselves from robbers.
Fernando Mateo, who heads Hispanics Across America, held a news conference Thursday with Albania Torres, whose nephew Juan Torres, a father of three, was gunned down in his deli in Laurelton, Queens, on Oct. 23. Torres’ brother Jesus was shot to death while working in a bodega in 1999.
“We’ve gotten to the point where we need to provide firearms for these hard working people,” Mateo told reporters.
On Tuesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch gun control advocate, proposed cutting the cost of gun permits from $340. The city would lower the price to avoid a potential Supreme Court ruling tossing out its regulations as too restrictive as the court has done elsewhere.
“We want to be in compliance with the law,” the mayor said.
