All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
Democrats have not given up on the gun control agenda.
In this unrelated article by Ken Lovett, he references a DNC survey/fundraiser letter:
“… The survey, which also served as a fund-raising letter for the DNC, asks about such issues as the economy, environment, raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, getting “weapons of war off our streets,” electoral reform, abortion rights, and gay and transgender rights …”
That’s code for banning semi-autos and anything with detachable magazines.
“On Wednesday, June 7, the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on S.1209A by Sen. Robert Ortt. However, the bill was abruptly removed from the agenda. This important Second Amendment legislation would “remove the prohibition on firearm silencers.” …”
The bill was never seriously on anyone’s agenda.
WRGB hosted a televised town hall meeting on the SAFE Act. They invited the public to send in video questions and they aired mine about halfway through. The participants didn’t answer my question, but I did seem to piss off the mouthpiece from NYAGV.
Despite this notice from ILA, the bill to legalize silencers S-1290A is not going to see it.
The legislature is scheduled to go into recess in two weeks. This is the time of year where Republicans try to justify their existence to gun owners by asking committees to consider some of their bills. Even if Senate EnCon moves the bill to Rules, I do not believe there is sufficient support in the upper chamber for it to pass, let alone move it through the Assembly and have Governor Cuomo sign it.
The Republicans do not have the ability to make political deals on pro-gun legislation (or much of anything else) anymore even if they wanted to, which they don’t. This is political theater, nothing more.
Assemblyman Steve McLaughin is collecting Republican signatures to run for Rensselaer County Executive this fall. Because the party has endorsed Chris Meyer, Steve needs these for a primary ballot in September.
Petitions being circulated for him and Meyer. Enrolled Republicans can sign only one petition so make sure it has Steve’s name on it. If you want to sign the petition or otherwise help with the campaign send them an e-mail.
He didn’t get the GOP nomination for county sheriff, but Assemblyman Al Graf did get the nod to run for district court judge.
Based upon his record while in the state legislature, gun owners should support him in this race.
The NRA lost a California court case regarding the imposition of firearms transfer fee:
“… In a 3-0 decision on Thursday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the law advanced California’s interest in disarming people who are forbidden from possessing guns and rifles, while imposing only a “minimal” burden on core constitutional rights under the Second Amendment …”
That this comes out of the 9th Circus does not surprise me. It also builds upon the earlier NYC licensing fee case the 2nd Circuit ruled was also constitutional. The difference with this one though is that part of the fee goes for law enforcement efforts against illegal purchases. I can see where a court would agree that the state has an interest in preventing prohibited persons from obtaining firearms, but why should the cost be put upon legal purchasers and not the taxpaying public as a whole?