Governor Cuomo’s director of Homeland Security, Jerome Hauer, is doing his best to maintain the stereotype of Americans as careless, gun-slinging yahoos. The Albany Times-Union reports that Hauer, who “was disabled by a stroke a few years ago and can be unsteady,” pulled out a nine-millimeter Glock and used the laser sighting on the gun’s barrel as a laser pointer while discussing New York’s response to Hurricane Sandy with a group of Swedish emergency managers back in October.
According people present at the meeting, which took place at the state police headquarters in Albany, the delegation was “rattled when the gun’s laser tracked across one of their heads before Hauer found the map of New York, at which he wanted to point.” Two people seated across from Hauer exhibited basic survival instincts and “moved quickly out of the line of the laser when he brought out the gun.”
When asked about the incident, Hauer’s press aide said that he’d “heard rumors” about it, while Hauer himself told a reporter, “You have bad sources.” Hauer is licensed to carry a gun, but state employees are not generally allowed to bring weapons to the office. It’s possible that Hauer has been granted an exception, though it sounds as though he’s not a great candidate for one.
