It was the sort of shocking incident that changes elections. Videos show a man—43-year-old David Jakubonis of Fairport, N.Y.—pushing through an audience at a campaign event in a parking lot in upstate New York. Some of the people in the audience were standing on the bright July afternoon; others were seated on fold-up metal chairs. After navigating the crowd, Jakubonis simply stepped up onto the “stage,” which in this case was a flatbed trailer, and was suddenly right in Rep. Lee Zeldin’s (R-N.Y.) face.
Rep. Zeldin, who is a candidate for governor of New York, had been giving a stump speech on the recent rise in crime. He was pointing out that legislative changes, such as cash-free bail policies, have allowed violent criminals to quickly return to New York’s communities—other states, such as Illinois, New Jersey and California have also eliminated cash-bail systems.
Jakubonis had a weapon attached to the index and middle fingers of his right hand. It looked like black brass knuckles with two sharp triangular points jutting above the knuckles. He raised the weapon toward Zeldin’s throat while repeatedly shouting “you’re done.”
Zeldin grabbed Jakubonis’ right wrist and they grappled and fell on the stage with Zeldin on top.
The audience stood in shock. Several people who were close to the stage helped subdue Jakubonis. Someone grabbed zip ties they’d been using to hang campaign posters. They used these to restrain Jakubonis until law enforcement took him away a few minutes later.
Zeldin was soon back on his feet with the microphone in his hand. He told the audience: “This is why we need law enforcement to keep us safe.”
Perhaps Zeldin’s military experience helped him keep his composure. He is currently a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, and, while he was active duty, he took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Whatever the case, not long after the attack, Zeldin tweeted: “The attacker will likely be instantly released under NY’s laws.”
This claim felt, for a few short hours anyway, like it must be hyperbole—things couldn’t be so bad anywhere in America that someone could walk out of jail right after attacking a congressman in front of an audience, right? Evidently, in New York, they can. That evening, Jakubonis was allowed to go home.
Jakubonis was rearrested on federal charges the next day, as he’d allegedly attacked a federal official, but the fact that the state tried to let him walk so fast put an exclamation point on what many have been saying is behind the recent rise in crime, such as soft-on-crime, woke prosecutors—many backed by George Soros’ deep pockets—prisoner releases during the pandemic and those no-cash-bail policies.
But there is more to this telling series of events.
Just a few hours before Jakubonis allegedly attacked Zeldin at a campaign event, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) campaign put out a statement announcing each stop of Zeldin’s statewide bus tour. It read: “On Thursday, July 21, 2022, ‘Big Lie’ Lee and his entourage of extremists kick off the statewide ‘MAGA Republican’ Bus Tour, which will make stops across the state peddling dangerous lies, misinformation, and his far-right agenda. At stops during the tour, Zeldin will be joined by top anti-abortion advocates, NRA enthusiasts, and a cast of extremist groups.”
Hochul did denounce the attack on Zeldin, but she didn’t use the opportunity to talk about the policies that allowed his alleged attacker to go free just hours after being arrested. A month before, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down New York’s “may-issue” licensing regime on concealed carry in NYSRPA v. Bruen, Gov. Hochul blamed guns, law-abiding gun owners and, indeed, American freedom for the rise in violent crime. Hochul even called an emergency session of the state legislature to pass new restrictions on lawful carry, as if armed citizens defending themselves is the problem.
Hochul, like many politicians who want gun bans and more restrictions on the citizens’ right to bear arms, also doesn’t want to pay a political price for her crime policies. The last thing such politicians want is a law-and-order election, but that is just what this must be.
Our Freedom Hangs on the Balance of Power
The U.S. Constitution requires that one-third of the U.S. Senate and the entire U.S. House of Representatives run for office every two years. So, all 435 seats of voting members in the House and, this year, 34 seats in the Senate are in play this Nov. 8. That’s a lot of races, which is part of the magic of this republic, as it is difficult to impossible for a large number of these politicians to become recognizable national figures. This helps keep politics local, which is fundamental to the genius of the U.S. Constitution—a document that was just 4,543 words long before amendments (that’s less than twice the size of this article).
A lot of issues are affecting these local elections, but the Second Amendment has been a major issue in this election cycle.
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of citizens’ right to carry this freedom outside of their homes in NYSRPA v. Bruen last June, politicians who argue government should be able to take away this specifically protected freedom whenever and however they see fit issued apocalyptic warnings about the consequences of the ruling; they did this despite the fact that the 43 states that already had “shall-issue” licensing and/or constitutional carry did not experience negative consequences when they got out of the way of law-abiding citizens’ right to keep and bear arms.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives, under Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), passed a gun-ban bill that, if U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had the votes, would surely get President Joe Biden’s (D) signature. The legislation would ban popular semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns, along with so-called “large-capacity” magazines.
Clearly, our Second Amendment rights are on the ballot Nov. 8. We only have the space to cover some of the closest races in this article, so we’ll focus on the “toss-up” races that will decide the U.S. Senate, but you can see NRA Political Victory Fund Grades and Endorsements (NRA-PVF) for many more candidates at NRAPVF.org. Once there, you can create and print your own voting guide.
Also, it should be noted that, in the eight U.S. Senate races highlighted here, the Republican candidates are pro-freedom, whereas the Democrats, to various degrees, are opposed to our Second Amendment rights. This, for the present, has unfortunately become how things largely are with House and Senate races, but the NRA-PVF grades and endorsements remain nonpartisan, as does the NRA. No part of the U.S. Bill of Rights, least of all the right that protects all the other rights, should be partisan. Hopefully, the legions of new gun owners who vote, if not the very nature of American freedom, will help convince more politicians to treat this freedom as the nonpartisan issue it is—if so, this freedom will be much safer from those who wish to control the American people.