Legislative Report #13 is now online.
Month: February 2014
Nojay proposes SAFE Act repeal
SAFE fallout for Grisanti
Another legislator faces negative fallout for his SAFE vote:
“Erie County Legislator Kevin R. Hardwick said Monday he is weighing a Republican primary challenge to State Sen. Mark J. Grisanti, a move that raises major questions about the incumbent’s ability to gain the local GOP endorsement for re-election this year. Hardwick … said Grisanti’s “terrible vote” on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s gun control law could render him vulnerable in a primary already being threatened by fellow Republican Kevin T. Stocker of Kenmore … He also raised the possibility that Grisanti’s vote in favor of Cuomo’s SAFE Act poses a major obstacle to local Republicans even granting their endorsement this year …”
Probably should have thought about this before voting. This is what happens when you ram bills though without time for public comment.
“… Erie County Republican Chairman Nicholas A. Langworthy said Monday he met with Grisanti last week and was assured the senator will not pursue the Democratic line. But Langworthy said Grisanti continues to be criticized for his SAFE Act vote, as recently as at a party roundtable meeting in Kenmore on Saturday. “The SAFE Act is something that will not go away, and something the base of the party is still worked up about,” he said. “So am I.” …”
Talk is cheap. Back this up by denying the party nomination to Grisanti.
“… Meanwhile, Erie County Conservative Chairman Ralph C. Lorigo said Monday he harbors serious reservations about a Hardwick candidacy because his departure from the County Legislature could jeopardize the one-vote majority coalition there led by the GOP. Still, Conservative backing for Grisanti remains unlikely because of his vote in favor of the SAFE Act …”
Then you should have no problem if someone else decides to seek the ECCP line. Are you planning on calling for candidates? If not, nobody then cares about what you think.
“… Grisanti did not return a phone call seeking comment …”
Why would he? What would he say, that he screwed up and people are pissed?
Instant Karma
Instant Karma’s gonna get you …
“A Buffalo, N.Y. community activist who is well known locally for pushing for a highly restrictive 2013 gun control law has been arrested for — wait for it — carrying a gun illegally at a public elementary school …”
Gonna knock you right in the head …
“… Dwayne Ferguson … was at Harvey Elementary because he works as a mentor in an after-school program for disadvantaged students. He said he frequently carries a pistol. He has a license but the license does not matter under the strict state law Ferguson helped pass. Among much else, the 2013 law, deemed New York’s SAFE Act, made it a felony to carry a gun on school property …”
You better get yourself together …
“… The community activist has claimed that he forgot he was carrying his gun in a felony gun-free zone he helped create …”
Pretty soon you’re gonna be dead …
“… Ferguson was eventually busted when police were patting down the people at the school so they could evacuate …”
What in the world you thinking of? …
“… Throughout the duration of the terrifying lockdown, the community activist never bothered to tell the cops that he was carrying a gun …”
Laughing in the face of love …
“… “He had opportunities,” local chief of police Kevin Brinkworth told the News. “I will say he had no ill intent to harm these students,” Brinkworth noted. “I don’t know why he had it on him.” …”
What on Earth you trying to do? …
“… Ferguson is the head of the Buffalo chapter of MAD DADS, a national group that opposes gang violence and illegal drugs. MAD DADS is an acronym for Men Against Destruction Defending Against Drugs and Social Disorder. The father of three also belongs to Buffalo Peacemakers, a separate anti-violence group that stands athwart gang-related crime …”
It’s up to you …
“… Ferguson is something of a professional vigilante in Buffalo …”
Yeah, you …
“… He can be seen patrolling local malls and city streets in an effort to stop gang violence …”
Big egos with big money
Go right ahead and shoot yourselves in the foot:
“… Even as the [Democrat] party is badly outspent in the early going of the 2014 election, some of their top donors have yet to awaken to the threat. In fact … the party’s rich benefactors are putting their single-issue crusades ahead of the party’s greater interests. Take Michael Bloomberg. The New York City mayor’s group to combat gun violence, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, spent $350,000 last year assailing another endangered Democrat, Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, over his opposition to a gun-control bill … It’s left the Democratic strategists plotting the Senate races scratching their heads … it only takes a few wealthy liberals to create holy hell in the party’s most consequential Senate races …”
If gun control is really as popular as leftists and the media say it is then there’s nothing for them to worry about.
Hopefully, Bloomberg’s actions will help push nationwide reciprocity through next year.
Telling Tkazyik he’s getting an “F”
Here is a short video of Tom speaking at a Dutchess County Conservative Party dinner last Thursday evening. The part about MAIG at the 2:02 mark is especially entertaining as John Tkazyik was in the audience.
Cuomo trying to buy gun votes
Andy is trying to buy back some gun votes with grant money:
“… Governor Cuomo is announcing over $130,000 being given out to shooting ranges. The money comes as part of the “New York Open for Fishing and Hunting Initiative”. One hundred thirty five thousand dollars in grants will be going to 13 shooting ranges, including $6,700 to the Lima Gun Club in Livingston County …”
The local FNRA gives out more money each year to clubs than this. This is a pathetic attempt to buy back some gun votes he lost because of SAFE.
BTW, what else is he spending money on?
“… Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $137.2 billion budget proposal includes an additional $3.2 million for personnel costs related to the SAFE Act, according to the head of the state police …”
When MAIG membership becomes a liability
Now that Poughkeepsie Mayor John Tkazyik is running for the GOP nomination for State Senate, he’s determined that his prior involvement in MAIG is a liability:
“I’m the mayor of one of the largest cities in the Hudson Valley, just 90 minutes north of New York City. I’m a life member of the National Rifle Association and a former member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, or MAIG, started by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2006 …”
Translation: I don’t think I’m going to get anything more out of MAIG so I’m switching sides.
“… I’m no longer a member of MAIG. Why? Just as Ronald Reagan said of the Democratic Party, it left me. And I’m not alone: Nearly 50 pro-Second Amendment mayors have left the organization. They left for the same reason I did. MAIG became a vehicle for Bloomberg to promote his personal gun-control agenda — violating the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens and taking resources away from initiatives that could actually work to protect our neighborhoods and save precious lives. Gun control will actually make a bad situation worse …”
MAIG has always been about gun control. Funny how he didn’t figure this out until deciding to run for state legislature.
“… I was first elected mayor of Poughkeepsie in 2007. At the time, it was a city that had grown weary of burying its young. Homicides were so commonplace that a newspaper without a murder story was news. Gangs roamed downtown streets and neighborhoods, terrorizing law-abiding citizens and selling drugs in broad daylight. As the drug wars escalated and gangs battled over turf, kids were killing kids …”
Poughkeepise has had crime problems, but the public wasn’t crying out for more gun control.
“… I vowed to do everything in my power to make our streets and neighborhoods safer. MAIG approached me with the promise that they’d assist me in developing effective approaches to clear our streets of criminals, get guns out of the hands of convicted felons, crack down on the drug trade and rid our streets of gangs that were terrorizing a city. I joined MAIG with this understanding …”
And in all those years you never bothered to once check what exactly MAIG was doing, especially considering they were using your name? When you joined the NRA, did you know they were a gun advocacy group and not a bunch of foodies?
“… It did not take long to realize that MAIG’s agenda was much more than ridding felons of illegal guns; that under the guise of helping mayors facing a crime and drug epidemic, MAIG intended to promote confiscation of guns from law-abiding citizens. I don’t believe, never have believed and never will believe that public safety is enhanced by encroaching on our right to bear arms, and I will not be a part of any organization that does …”
Well, not any longer …
“… Those who doubt this hard fact might want to study Chicago, which has among the most restrictive gun-control laws in the country, as well as some of the highest rates of gun-related crime and killing. Depriving law-abiding citizens of their right to own firearms only makes them more vulnerable …”
He had to have gotten this from some NRA talking point.
“… What works against gun violence is reducing the number of illegal guns available to criminals through cash-for-tips programs; eliminating plea bargaining in cases of gun-related crime; and strengthening surveillance and neighborhood policing in problem areas — initiatives I’ve spearheaded …”
Cash-for-tips, also known as snitch on your neighbor, ain’t working.
“… And, fundamentally, troubled urban areas desperately need an economy that welcomes businesses to locate and remain in our cities. Robust respect for the Second Amendment rights of the law abiding does this by discouraging theft and enhancing personal safety …”
Yep, New York is in a poor economic state due to decades of failed “progressive” politics. As for robustness, should we expect public condemnation of SAFE and Sullivan sometime soon?
“… Unless Bloomberg and MAIG recognize and implement these principles, their efforts are doomed not only to fail, but also to cause further — if unintended — harm …”
Failure is always an option, including for political candidates.
Membership Soars In Wake of SAFE Act
Astorino running for Governor
Haven’t seen a formal announcement yet, but Rob Astorino’s intentions are clear:
RT @JessicaAlaimo @RobAstorino has officially filed to run for office with the Board of Elections.
— Capital Tonight (@CapitalTonight) February 4, 2014