BELLEVUE, WA – Following his arrest in New York City Friday morning, anti-gun-rights actor Alec Baldwin reportedly declared that the city is trying to “criminalize behavior once thought benign,” which is a remarkable definition for allegedly punching somebody, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.
After he was arrested, Baldwin reportedly ranted on Twitter that “New York City is a mismanaged carnival of stupidity that is desperate for revenue and anxious to criminalize behavior once thought benign.”
“That’s exactly what the city has done with gun owners,” quipped Alan M. Gottlieb, SAF founder and executive vice president. “Big Apple gun owners, and visitors from other parts of the country, have found themselves in all kinds of legal trouble for simply exercising their Second Amendment rights, and none of them has behaved nearly as bad as Baldwin apparently did.”
The actor reportedly was perturbed at photographers stationed outside his home, where he claimed that they terrified his daughter, and one nearly struck her with a camera while police didn’t take any action. It’s not the first time Baldwin has confronted a photographer. He had earlier problems in 2012 and 2013 with photographers, and the second time he was accused of harassment.
“Here’s a guy who has suggested an overthrow of the government under Donald Trump,” Gottlieb noted. “If an average gun owner did that, he might wind up facing charges in New York City. Bad Boy Baldwin makes a remark like that and people cheer.
“Still,” he continued, “assault and battery is a serious allegation, one that could put Baldwin behind bars. At least in his case, maybe the citizens of New York City are lucky that he’s not carrying a gun.
“However,” Gottlieb said, “don’t judge typical gun owners by Baldwin’s apparent bad behavior. Law-abiding armed citizens in New York or anywhere else don’t make a habit of starting brawls over something as, in his words, ‘benign’ as punching somebody in the face.
“Gun owners have some advice for Baldwin,” Gottlieb concluded. “He better keep a trigger lock on that temper, or some prosecutor is going to put him in secure storage.”