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Jul 26, 2017 Politics, State Legislation
Some excerpts from a letter to the Buffalo News:
“Every time I go by a “Repeal the SAFE Act” sign I still have to chuckle … Now there is even a proposal to repeal the SAFE Act upstate. Some Western New York legislators spend more time talking about repeal on the campaign trail than they do in the Legislature … Even Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan candidly acknowledged that repeal is done. “I think on a very practical level most people don’t believe the SAFE Act is going to be repealed.” …”
The author speaks the truth, especially the part about legislators talking about repeal, but doing nothing about it in the legislature.
The bills A-6140/S-679C were introduced and no action was taken on either of them. Why didn’t Republican legislators attempt to link passage of this proposal with state budget negotiations? If the Senate sponsor’s were serious why didn’t they make a Motion for Committee Consideration? If the Assembly sponsor’s were serious why didn’t they make a Motion to Discharge?
The reality is that even if the Republican’s were serious there’s just not enough of them and they do not have the political clout to move agenda items like this anymore. The New York party is not functioning and in the not too distant future they will become a permanent minority party in the state.
Recent Entries
Jul 23, 2017 Elections, Politics
The election committee New Yorkers for Gun Safety appears to be kaput. What little money remained in the PAC was transferred to the State Democratic Committee.
It was never a real grassroots organization. It was created by Governor Cuomo under the NYSDC to push the SAFE Act. They kept the account open for some reason since ’13 and now it has a $0.00 balance.
It can be looked at as both a success and failure. It was successful in pushing SAFE, but it was a failure in generating any sort of residuals. Gun control is less popular now than 5 years ago and Cuomo’s standing as a national leader on the issue only hurt him.
Antigun advocates are unlikely to learn anything from this.
Jul 23, 2017 Elections 2017
The Buffalo News reports that incumbent Buffalo Mayor Byron brown is seriously ahead in fundraising over his Democrat rivals:
“Mayor Byron W. Brown has more than a half million dollars in his campaign chest, far ahead of his opponents in the Democratic primary for City Hall’s top job. The three-term incumbent in the last six months raised almost $440,000, four times more than Mark J.F. Schroeder, the city comptroller, raised and 70 times as much as Betty Jean Grant, an Erie County legislator …”
Brown’s record on guns has been mixed: poor while in the Senate, but he notably did not come out in support of the SAFE Act.
Schroeder consistently supported gun rights while in the Assembly.
Grant has not been supportive of gun rights while in the county legislature.
The race will likely be decided during the Democrat primary where turnout will be low. Knowing this, for the primary, gun owners choices should be:
- Schroeder
- Brown
- Grant
Jul 23, 2017 Elections, Politics
Anthony Scaramucci is deleting some of his Twitter history in an attempt to cover up comments critical of the President.
He can’t cover up his history of campaign contributions, though:
Jul 21, 2017 Federal Legislation, Politics
The American Bar Association has come out in opposition to reciprocity bills H.R.38/S.446:
“… ABA President Linda A. Klein calls the legislation “a dangerous proposal” that would tie states’ hands in setting concealed-carry standards. All states allow some form of concealed carry, but standards vary, Klein said. The reciprocity requirement “offends deeply rooted principles of federalism where public safety is traditionally the concern of state and local government,” Klein says in the letters (PDFs) here and here. If the proposal were to become law, “a state’s ability to consider safety factors—such as age, evidence of dangerousness, live firearm training, or criminal records—would give way to other states’ less stringent requirements,” Klein said. “Unlike some efforts of Congress to create minimum safety standards, this bill could lead to no safety standards as more states enact laws to allow persons to carry concealed firearms without a permit.” …”
Someone’s been getting talking points from Bloomberg & Company.
It is also safe to speculate that antigunners in Congress asked for the ABA’s help in defeating this proposal.
Jul 20, 2017 Federal Legislation
There is a online petition National Reciprocity for the Nation’s 17 Million Concealed Handgun Permit Holders! worth a few moments of everyone’s time.
Normally I don’t care about online petitions, but since this is on whitehouse.gov if it receives 100,000 signatures, there will be an official acknowledgement from the White House. Since The Donald’s legislative agenda on healthcare and taxes hasn’t been going so well, perhaps this will motivate him to move on 2A.
Jul 19, 2017 Elections 2017, Politics, State Legislation
The Island Now reports that Laura Curran leads Jack Martins in fundraising:
“Democrat Laura Curran has a cash advantage of nearly $250,000 over Republican Jack Martins in the Nassau County executive race … Curran raised more than $718,000 from January to July 13, more than twice the roughly $357,000 Martins took in after launching his campaign in April. Curran closed the six-month reporting period with $577,644 on hand to Martins’ $338,953. County Comptroller George Maragos, Curran’s Democratic primary opponent, still has the largest war chest of the three candidates, leaving $1,288,023 in the bank as of last week after spending $235,274. Maragos previously loaned his campaign $1.5 million and is not taking contributions from special-interest donors. He raised only $3,406 from January to last week …”
Maragos twice ran for Senate as a Republican before switching to the Democrats to run for Comptroller. I have doubts as to how much actual support he would have in a Democrat primary. Although he has not made any solid position statements one way or another on 2A rights, gun owners should support him in a primary based upon Curran’s past support for gun control. He’s probably going to lose, but this is the only way to register an opinion.
That leaves Curran v. Martins in the general election and both of them stink.
In spite of that, gun owners should hold their nose and vote for Curran. Her one (and only) positive aspect is that she is not Jack Martins. Giving Martins the finger for voting for the SAFE Act is all that is on the table for Nassau Co. gun owners this fall.
Jul 19, 2017 Jurisprudence
The New York Law Journal reports:
“A federal appeals court said there is “no clear reason” why a Nassau County woman whose rifles and shotguns were taken away as part of a now-expired order of protection should not receive a hearing to determine if her weapons should be returned. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed Eastern District Judge Joan Azrack’s 2015 decision to order a hearing on returning plaintiff Christine Panzella’s two rifles and two shotguns, which were seized as part of an order of protection filed by her ex-husband … Holding a “prompt” post-deprivation hearing would provide Panzella with a “timely and inexpensive” forum to challenge Nassau County’s retention of her weapons, the judge said …”
This could impact antigun efforts to enact laws which allow the “emergency” seizure of firearms when a family member complains because some police departments which take guns don’t want to return them.
Jul 18, 2017 Elections 2018, Politics
Governor Cuomo raised $5 million in the first half of this year for his 2018 re-election campaign bringing the total in his bank account to $25.7 million.
He raised an additional $1 million to be used to oust New York House Republicans.
New Yorkers don’t want him to run for President, but I see him doing a repeat of 2014 where he threatens to use this money against Republican Senators and the GOP essentially gives him a pass on a 3rd term as Governor. I have not even heard anything recently about potential GOP gubernatorial candidates. There’s just nothing.