Alex Gault reports for Northern New York Newspapers that the National Rifle Association has given Rep. Elise Stefanik an A plus, and given her opponent, Democrat Matt Castelli an F, and he is upset about his grade. Castelli, a former CIA officer and Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council who served in both the Obama and Trump White Houses, says he is a gun owner. And he says he would not support a ban on assault weapons sales that many Democrats are talking about in Congress. At a Sept. 14 town hall meeting, Castelli said he prefers legislation to keep all weapons out of the hands of those who would use them to harm others, people he defined as “cop killers, kid killers, domestic abusers and terrorists,” according to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Castelli also says he opposes the recent gun control legislation passed in New York. He says the National Rifle Association never asked him anything about his positions on guns, and cannot understand why they would give him an F grade. “(The NRA is) misleading the public with the claim that they rank political candidates based on voting records, public statements and their response to an NRA-PVF questionnaire,” he said. “The corrupt NRA has abandoned its original values of responsible gun ownership, cut funding to gun training and safety, and now represents corporate interests, not law-abiding gun owners.” Castelli is challenging Stefanik in New York's new 21st Congressional District, which includes Rensselaer County, in the election Oct. 29 through Nov. 8. Read the full story at nny360.com.