Gun Control Day

Today is Gun Control Day in New York.

The festivities kicked off with a presser in Manhattan with Comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams touting the release of their report, “NYC’s Crisis Management System Interventions Reduced Gun Violence by 21%, Comptroller Lander’s Report Finds.”

Both are trying to generate attention for their Mayoral campaigns which are currently going nowhere.

Meanwhile in Albany, the usual suspects held a rally in the LOB.

Here’s a short clip of yet another Mayoral hopeful Senator Zellnor Myrie ranting about President Trump terminating the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and touting his bill S-1289 to create a state version.

Myrie’s Mayoral campaign isn’t setting the world on fire either.

Cuomo started gun control group

The New York Times has an article on ex-Gov. Cuomo forming a pro-Isreal group as a way to reboot his political career. In the article is this nugget:

“Last year, as a growing schism over Israel tore at the Democratic Party, Andrew M. Cuomo threw himself into the fray. He announced he would lead a new advocacy group leveraging his clout as New York’s former governor to beat back growing anti-Israel sentiment on the left. … Almost a year later, though, the Cuomo group’s promises appear to have amounted to little beyond a few private informational receptions and opinion essays. Now, as Mr. Cuomo begins a comeback campaign for mayor of New York City, the group’s work provides one of the clearest windows into how he has sought to use well-timed political projects to re-enter the public sphere after his scandal-tarred resignation as governor. Others included a national gun safety group and a new political action committee to support favored candidates.Rich Azzopardi, Mr. Cuomo’s spokesman, defended the efforts, which he called a reflection of Mr. Cuomo’s desire to continue work he had done as governor to tighten New York’s gun laws and fight antisemitism …”

His gun control group was as inactive as his pro-Isreal group. I could not recall hearing about it so I did a search and found this from ’22:

“Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned more than a year ago after allegations of sexual harassment, said in a video Wednesday that he will start a political action committee “to elect the right people to politics,” form a gun-control group and launch his own weekly podcast … Cuomo also teased something called the “Gun Safe America” project, which he said he will unveiled soon …”

As far as I can tell “Gun Safe America” never got off the ground.

All this appears to be primarily astrotruf meant to keep his name circulating in internal Democrat party politics.

The Return of Cuomo

Ex-Govenor Andrew Cuomo is trying another political comeback. After much speculation, he formally announced he is running for Mayor of New York City.

The fact that he is able to make this run highlights the pathetic shape the Democrat party is in. In a crowded field of candidates he absolutely can win the expected party primary with a plurality, not majority, of votes.

NYAGV endorses Alvin Bragg

The Amsterdam News reports:

… “District Attorney Bragg understands that safety and justice require investment in our youth and communities to prevent violence and crime before it happens and break the cycle of trauma,” said Rebecca Fischer, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, who recently endorsed Bragg’s re-election campaign. “Empowering our young people through leadership and engagement in their own communities is an evidenced-based approach to reducing gun violence.” …

This endorsement is meaningless as Bragg has no serious challengers and therefore NYAGV has nothing to do to back up their endorsement.

Newsbits

Tuesday’s Newsbits:

Elections:

Legislation:

Politics:

The return of Cuomo

Andrew Cuomo is considering trying (another) political comeback, this time running for Mayor of NYC.

Assuming he does run, there is an opportunity for retribution for his phony SAFE Act, as other Democrats are also eyeing that position.

Cuomo has made a lot of enemies. I have been seeing webads targeting him, reminding everyone about his COVID response. A vote-for-anyone-but-Cuomo campaign may be doable.

Jenkins appoints Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce

Ken Jenkins has taken over as interim Westchester County Executive.

One of his first actions was to fully appoint members to the so-called Westchester County Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say this taskforce will propose throwing money into warm and fuzzy sounding social programs with little oversight as well as endorsing whatever new gun control schemes the antis come up with.

A special election is set for February 11 to fill the remainder of George Latimer’s term.

Newsbits

Wednesday’s Newsbits:

Elections:

Jurisprudence:

Legislation:

Politics:

Race to succeed Stefanik

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is joining the incoming Trump administration which will trigger a special election sometime in the next few months.

Dan Stec has already declared his candidacy and Fox News has a breakdown of some of the other potential candidates from both parties. Stec and other Republicans Robert Smullen and Chris Tague would be fine from a 2A perspective as would Steve McLaughlin, although I don’t see him giving up his current job.  They all have voting records to go on.

At this point I’m thinking Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino would be the best choice. I’m not aware of his stance on gun rights, but I suspect he would be more aggressive in pushing the Trump agenda especially on gun rights than the others would.

Scarsdale’s Tim Foley announced his candidacy

Scarsdale10583.com reports:

“Scarsdale’s Tim Foley has announced his candidacy to represent us in the Westchester County Legislature. The term of long-time legislator Ben Boykin will expire and Foley will be on the ballot for the position in June 2025 … I helped take on the NRA to treat gun violence as the public health threat that it is …”