All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
A reminder to always vote: Former Congresswoman Claudia Tenney defeated the man who beat her two years ago by 106 votes out of more than 300,000 cast.
With Michelle Hinchey declaring victory in SD-46, Democrats will have at least 41 seats in the State Senate next year. 42+ are needed for a super-majority. There are three races still pending.
Found this nugget buried at Politico:
“… [Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy] still under consideration to run the Department of Health and Human Services … despite concerns that the 43-year-old lacks the experience needed to run the massive agency and could face confirmation hurdles over his calls to make gun control a public health priority … others in Biden’s orbit and in the health care world say it’s much more likely that Murthy gets tapped to serve as a White House adviser on health care or a Covid czar — positions that wouldn’t require Senate confirmation … Murthy also faced difficulties in getting confirmed for that post back in 2014. It took more than a year and a half after he was nominated for the Senate to confirm him on the slimmest of margins, with the vast majority of Republicans and a handful of Democrats voting against him over concerns around his gun control advocacy. But since then, the idea that gun violence is a public health issue has gone mainstream, and a senior Senate Democratic aide [said] that it isn’t likely to be a hurdle this time around …”
“Gun violence” as a public health issue is not a mainstream idea and Democrats are still in the Senate minority.
The Central Brooklyn Political Action Association held an online forum with the current crop of announced Democrat candidates for Mayor.
On the issue of guns two participants made statements of note: former HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and current Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams:
“… Donovan said “we need a mayor who’s going to lead a national coalition of mayors against the gun industry” and that “if we can cut the supply of guns, we can dramatically change this situation.” …”
He’s just regurgitating the old MAIG line. Boring.
“… “I’ve dedicated my life to the issue of gun violence,” Adams said, adding he “would reinstitute the [NYPD] crime prevention unit, which would…target the specific shooters.” He also said “we need a tristate approach to stop the flow of guns to this city.” …”
Adams has a long history of promoting gun control schemes going back to his time in the Senate. The last nonsense he was pushing was smart guns/smart holsters. Do not what exactly he’s talking about now, but I’m sure it is more of the same failed ideas.
NRA has been maintaining the actions taken by New York State against it are nothing more than a political witch-hunt.
No doubt there are many local politicians who are looking for an excuse to go after the Corporation. Problem for them (NRA) is that NRA gave them reasons to start an investigation:
“The National Rifle Association (NRA) has agreed to halt insurance business in New York for five years and will pay a $2.5 million fine over charges related to that work … The agreement resolved charges related to the NRA’s relationship with insurance broker Lockton Cos, which sold over 28,000 NRA-endorsed policies. Among the plans offered was the “Carry Guard” program … the NRA allegedly received over $1.8 million in associated royalties and fees and ultimately kept between 13.67 percent and 21.92 percent of premiums paid. “The NRA operated as an unlicensed insurance producer and broke the New York Insurance Law by soliciting insurance products and receiving compensation,” said Superintendent of Financial Services Linda Lacewell …”
This is just dumb.
It is clear that nobody at NRA did any sort of due diligence before offering Carry Guard in the state. I’m not in the business but even I know that the insurance industry is heavily regulated, especially in New York. There is no excuse for this. They have wasted millions of member’s dollars on fines, attorney fees and stupid lawsuits over this nonsense.
Democrats will have at least 40 seats in the State Senate as the counting and legal wrangling continues.
Tuesday’s Newsbits:
Elections:
Guns:
Jurisprudence:
NRA:
Politics:
Election update: Senator Kevin Thomas (D-6) has declared victory after absentee vote count.
Senate GOP at +4 for the moment.
Mike Bloomberg spent in the neighborhood of $1.2 Billion dollars of his own money this past election cycle and got very little to show for it.
Forbes puts his current net worth at $54.9 Billion so it’s nothing for him.
New York Republicans are probably feeling some regret, though. Had they held off a bit, they probably could have gotten a lot more money out of him instead of selling themselves on the cheap.
And so it begins:
“As Joseph R. Biden Jr. begins his presidential transition, here are some of the names that have emerged for top jobs in his administration … VIVEK MURTHY One of Mr. Biden’s top advisers on the coronavirus, Dr. Murthy is a former surgeon general and an outspoken advocate of more stringent gun control …”
Tuesday’s Newsbits:
Elections:
Firearms Industry:
Politics: