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May 27, 2017 Federal Legislation
NRA just sent out an alert over the introduction of H.R.2620 which removes the “sporting purposes” clauses in federal firearms law. It has 38 original sponsors including Rep. Chris Collins.
Collins has a mixed record on guns starting out years ago as a member of the Bloomberg-proxy County Executives Against Illegal Guns, but has shifted more towards the 2A side as his political career progressed. I still don’t trust him on the issue, but at least he is point in the right direction now.
Recent Entries
May 25, 2017 Elections 2017
Assemblyman Charles Lavine has dropped out of the race for Nassau County Executive and endorsed his Democrat opponent Laura Curran.
She still has to get past George Maragos in a Democrat primary, but I don’t think that will be a problem. That would make the general election a choice between Curran and Republican Jack Martins.
Both of them stink on ice, but you have to pick one, so go with Curran to stick it to Martins’ for his vote on the SAFE Act.
May 25, 2017 Elections 2017
Senator Phil Boyle was endorsed yesterday by the Suffolk County Republican’s to run for county sheriff. He already had the Conservative Party endorsement.
Incumbent Vincent DeMarco is not running for re-election so vote for whomever the Democrats end up with as their nominee. Doesn’t matter who it is. Boyle is a piece of garbage.
May 24, 2017 Jurisprudence
Gun owners spend a lot of time thinking about the next gun case SCOTUS will take up but there is another issue pending in the courts that could have a big impact especially in New York. See The Hill’s article, “Will the Supreme Court draw the line on gerrymandering?“
Roughly 95% of our state legislature is re-elected every cycle in large part due to decades of gerrymandering which have made all but a handful of races competitive. Since both chambers have to agree on district lines the majorities in each draw the districts to favor the party in power, Democrats in the Assembly and Republicans in the Senate.
If SCOTUS were to issue a decision that invalidates gerrymandering and New York was forced to redraw districts fairly it would impact gun rights in two ways:
First, there would be more competitive elections than there are now increasing opportunities for political action. That’s good.
Second, it would in all likelihood wipe out the Senate Republicans. That’s bad, but since it is only a matter of time before that happens anyway, it isn’t such a big deal.
Knowing this, I think this could be a plus for us.
May 24, 2017 Elections 2018, Politics
The DCCC is targeting New York Republicans:
“These days it’s easier to say who the Democratic Congressional Committee isn’t targeting. The committee is actively recruiting candidates and fundraising against every Republican member of Congress in New York with the exception of Long Island Representative Peter King … Of the 79 Republican seats currently targeted, eight are in New York …”
A challenger for Tom Reed has emerged:
“… Rick Gallant, a longtime teacher and union activist from the Corning area, announced that he will challenge Reed next year in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, which covers much of the Southern Tier and part of the Finger Lakes … This will be the third consecutive election in which the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has targeted Reed, who won by wide margins both times nevertheless … Asked about gun control – another issue important in the district – he said: “I am all for responsible gun ownership.” Part of that, though, would be legislation keeping guns out of the hands of the seriously mentally ill, he added …”
That caveat means he’ll support the Bloomberg gun control agenda.
May 23, 2017 State Legislation
Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj has circulated a memo asking for support for his so-called gun buyback bill, A-7903.
Even the most antigun member of the Clown Council called B.S. on buybacks a couple of years ago:
“… “It’s always good to get guns off the street — I think getting any gun is good,” said City Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn). “But I don’t know if they’re the most effective way to deal with gun violence.” … “Sometimes you may get guns that are inoperable. You may get some rifles — guns that are not really used in the type of gun violence in the city we’re going after,” said Williams …”
H/T: David DiPietro for the memo.
May 20, 2017 Elections, Politics
The Daily Caller has an interesting article on how George Soros has been getting involved with district attorney’s races in order to influence law enforcement policies:
“… The outcome of the Philadelphia district attorney’s race followed a now-familiar playbook. A candidate aligned with Soros’ left-wing politics emerged victorious thanks to the billionaire’s willingness to flood local races with the kind of capital typically reserved for important national political campaigns. Soros, a funder of Black Lives Matter, is a staunch advocate for reforming policing methods and softening drug laws. Installing like-minded district attorneys allows Soros the opportunity to influence law enforcement policies around the country …”
He did this back in ’14 with David Soares’s campaign for Albany D.A.:
“… Soares’ money included large-scale contributions from financier George Soros and his son …”
I believe one son lives in the Rhinebeck area, but I don’t know if that’s the one who made the donation. The old man is a big supporter of gun control as is son Alexander.
May 17, 2017 Moonbattery, Politics
Moms Demand Action had their lobby day in Albany today:
From the pictures I’ve seen they look to have had roughly the same number of people that New Yorkers Against Gun Violence brought up a couple of weeks ago. One noticeable difference, aside from the shirts, is I have not seen any solicitation for funds from MDA. NYAGV asked for donations to bus their children to Albany.
I do not understand why MDA and NYAGV did not work together to have a single lobby day. Having two events which are essentially the same scheduled so close together does not make much sense to me. I wonder if Mike Bloomberg is trying to push aside the competition. The Brady Campaign used to get much more attention until he came along. Is he trying to do the same to NYAGV?
May 15, 2017 Politics
Ken Lovett has uncovered what is keeping the Senate Republicans and IDC together: Money.
“State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan’s decision to dole out questionable stipends to seven state senators was the result of various competing interests, insiders say … an attempt to keep eight breakaway Democrats aligned with the GOP in a leadership coalition happy and Flanagan’s desire to appease a number of his own upstate Republican members who feel the Independent Democratic Conference, or IDC, were given too much influence and too many perks, all played a part in the unusual payouts. “It’s a combination of all of it,” said one GOP senator …”
Shit like this is why New York leads the nation in corrupt politicians. Flanagan has the balls to make funny money payouts even after both Shelly and Dean went down for corruption.
May 12, 2017 Elections 2017, Politics
Senator George Latimer received the endorsement of the Westchester Democrats to run against Rob Astorino this fall.
It could be both a good and bad thing, but it isn’t what I was hoping for.
The good is that Democrats are not united around one candidate as Legislator Ken Jenkins intends to run in a primary. Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1 in the county and party disunity benefits Astorino.
The bad is if Jenkins got the nod he would have had to give up his seat on the county board to run for county executive where if he lost he’d be out. I do not think he has to do that for a primary where if he loses he can still run for his old legislative seat in the general election. If Latimer loses either the primary or general election he stays in the Senate. I would have preferred to have had the opportunity to be rid of one antigunner but that is less likely to happen now.