All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
I attended State Senator Peter Oberacker’s campaign kickoff for CD-19 yesterday.
It started off with an endorsement from Assemblyman Chris Tague.
Oberacker told me he was asked to run by the White House so I do not believe there will be a Republican primary.
The state legislature is not in session, but Everytown’s contract lobbying firm reports lobbying the Governor on “Issues related to 3D printed guns.”
Saturday’s Newsbits:
Elections:
Jurisprudence:
Legislation:
Politics:
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin is one of the biggest supporters of gun control in Albany and she has an op-ed in the Yonkers Times, “Gun Control is Suicide Prevention.”
It’s premise is just recycled antigun talking points so there is no substance there. What I believe is important is that she mentions a couple of bills she is sponsoring. I have found that when electeds do these guest op-eds it is often a sign that they intend to push those bills when the legislature returns to regular session.
The bills in question are A-198A, Relates to establishing a voluntary waiver of the right to purchase firearms, rifles or shotguns, and A-1210A, Establishes a waiting period before a firearm, shotgun or rifle may be delivered to a person. The former is just stupid, the later is more serious as similar proposals have bee floated in the State Senate. Set up alerts to watch both of them. The state legislature returns to session the 2nd week in January.
Sunday’s Newsbits:
Elections:
Jurisprudence:
Legislation:
Politics:
Crime in Washington D.C. has gotten so bad that President Trump took over control of the police department and sent in the national guard to help them.
He also streamlined the gun licensing process dropping the processing time down to a few days when it used to take months:
“… “President Trump is not only stopping violent crime in Washington, D.C., he is also streamlining the permitting process for law-abiding residents who want the ability to protect themselves and their families,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. “The Making DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force has been working with local officials to eliminate longstanding obstacles and successfully reduced the average permit processing time from several months to just five days.” …”
This is important because he is openly acknowledging carrying guns for personal protection is good public policy.
Others, especially the chicken-shit Republicans in New York, should follow Trump’s example.
Letitia James tried to bankrupt Donald Trump and put him in jail.
That failed. Now it’s his turn:
“Federal prosecutors in Albany have issued subpoenas to New York Attorney General Letitia James inquiring about her office’s civil fraud case against President Donald Trump and corruption case against the National Rifle Association, multiple sources told ABC News … James sued the NRA in 2020, accusing the gun rights group’s former CEO, Wayne LaPierre, and others of misappropriating donor funds to finance luxury items for themselves. The jury determined LaPierre owed more than $4 million. The subpoenas, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, are part of an investigation into whether James and her office violated the civil rights of Trump or the NRA executives, the sources said …”
This prompted some outgassing from the Brady’s:
“This is a classic tool of aspiring authoritarians like President Trump: use the levers of government to harass public servants and exact personal revenge. New York Attorney General James and her office have upheld the rule of law in their ongoing civil suits against Donald Trump for illegally inflating his wealth and the National Rifle Association for abusing its non-profit status. In initiating these investigations, Attorney General Bondi and her deputies in New York make a mockery of civil rights laws intended to protect the rights of minorities. This probe is not meant to be successful in our courts, where facts and the rule of law supersede the petty whims of Donald Trump and his gun lobby friends looking to use our gun violence epidemic to pad their profits. It’s meant to instill fear in public officials nationwide for holding far-right extremists accountable. We cannot let them. Neither Trump nor the gun lobby is above the law.”
The prosecution against Trump was totally baseless and if he gets to roast James over it more power to him.
However, James’ going after the NRA was totally justified, even though I have no doubt it started out with political motivation. It brought to light the mismanagement and corruption by NRA executive staff and Boardmembers. If anything James’ legal action should be seen as a big plus both for NRA members and the 2A community. A lot (although not all) of the rot at NRA has been removed and the Association is pointed in a more positive direction because of it.
A man decided to ignore New York’s and New York City’s gun control laws by openly carrying a long rifle in Manhattan then going into a building and shooting a bunch of people before finally killing himself.
Of course, the usual suspects tried to exploit this atrocity for political gain, starting with Governor Hochul:
“… Congress must summon the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and finally pass a national assault weapons ban before more innocent lives are stolen …”
“… Bores said, “I think it’s, as our governor said this morning, it is finally time for us to have a nationwide ban on assault weapons, on these AR-15-style weapons. Now, this one was a pistol and a different one, and I expect many of my colleagues in elected office to pick at specific distinctions in weapons. But what’s clear is no one should have a magazine that can shoot 30 rounds. No one should have such a high-powered and maneuverable weapon and be able to walk around city streets or drive it into our state.” …”
See my letter to Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo in the wake of the senseless and tragic shooting in Midtown Manhattan which claimed the lives of Wesley LePatner, Didarul Islam, Aland Etienne, and Julia Hyman. pic.twitter.com/FkjCV3ECT1
— Assemblymember Charles Lavine (@CharlesLavineNY) July 30, 2025
These people pathetic. Gun control has never been popular with the general public and with Democrat approval at 19% right now none of this crap is going anywhere and they know it. They are so lame they just recite the same tired talking points over and over oblivious to the reality that no one is paying any attention to their theatrics and phony hysterics.
The Clinton AWB is gone and is not coming back. At some point I expect SCOTUS will take up one of the similar state-level laws and knock it down once and for all.
President Trump made Jeanine Pirro Washington D.C.’s Interim U.S. Attorney back in May and last week the Senate Judiciary Republicans voted to advance her nomination for a permanent position.
Sher is absolutely not pro-gun. I have not forgotten about her tenure as Westchester Co. D.A. where she used that office to push a hardcore gun control agenda.