Newsbits

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Monday’s Newsbits:

Elections:

Guns:

Jurisprudence:

NRA:

Politics:

Ola with AR-15

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Ola Hawatmeh holds a slight lead over the party’s chosen nominee Kyle Van De Water in last week’s Republican primary.

Here is a picture she posted yesterday:

Ola for Congress

Bad assumption

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Gun sales have surged among new buyers the past few months leading some to speculate this will translate into positive action at election time:

“… Look at all of the new people who suddenly decided to exercise their Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms,” observed CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “We’ve witnessed something that is nothing short of a sea change, and in some cases might approach the level of epiphany, about gun ownership. We’ve heard anecdotal reports from all over the country about people flocking to gun shops who had never before owned a firearm. Now that they are gun owners, we expect them to be very protective of their rights …”

“… Several of the country’s leading gun-rights groups are working to convert many more first-time owners into new gun-rights voters in the run-up to the 2020 election. Amy Hunter, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association, said that the group’s success could change the political landscape at the local, state, and national level. “The NRA believes voters who recently purchased guns for self-defense will join other Second Amendment voters and be an even more formidable voting bloc,” Hunter told the Washington Free Beacon. “They’re educated, passionate, and they know anti-gun politicians are the biggest threat to their fundamental right to self-defense …”

Both of these are fundamentally wrong.

Simply buying a gun does not automatically turn a person into a 2A activist voter. That requires work by a special interest group able to appeal to that new gun owner. NRA in particular does not do that very well having developed an increasing reputation over the years as being a Republican/Conservative organization as opposed to a single issue, non-partisan group.  That is the main reason why they have no clout in states like New York and Massachusetts that have Democrat voter majorities.

If gun groups want to gain political advantage from these new gun owners they must recognize that a good portion of them are not conservatives and will not vote for Republicans regardless of the candidate’s position on 2A.

Antigun agenda creep

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It’s well established that the major gun control organizations are little more than astroturf paid for and run by professional activists and politicians. Lately they appear to be expanding their mission beyond gun control into such areas as Fuck Tha Police:

and statehood for Washington, D.C.:

I can understand why they’d want the later, it would give them a few more reliably antigun representatives. But jumping onto the radical bash the police bandwagon? Maybe they think they can raise money off the issue?

Rob Astorino For New York State Senate

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One of the few state races I’m excited about:

Primary results

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Following up to my post stating there are only limited opportunities to impact elections comes the results of yesterday’s primaries.  Big win/lose in Westchester Congressional and District Attorney races:

Assembly District 34
Vote AGAINST incumbent Michael DenDekker – SUCCESS. DenDekker comes in 2nd in 4-way primary.

Assembly District 50
Vote AGAINST incumbent Joseph Lentol – FAILED.

Assembly District 51
Vote AGAINST incumbent Felix Ortiz – FAILED. Ortiz wins in 4-way primary with 38.7% of the vote.

Assembly District 108
Vote AGAINST incumbent John McDonald – FAILED.

Assembly District 138
Vote AGAINST incumbent Harry Bronson – FAILED.

Senate District 12
Vote AGAINST incumbent Michael Gianaris – FAILED.

Senate District 38 – Open Seat
Vote AGAINST candidate Elijah Reichlin-Melnick – FAILED.

Congressional District 16
Vote AGAINST incumbent Congressman Eliot Engel – SUCCESS. Engel comes in 2nd in 5-way primary.

Congressional District 17

Go down the list in order:

SUCCESS. All candidates listed above lost.

Albany County District Attorney
Vote AGAINST incumbent David Soares – FAILED.

Westchester County District Attorney
Vote AGAINST challenger Mimi Rocah – FAILED.

Haven’t forgotten about it

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One of the provisions of the so-called SAFE Act is background checks for ammunition buyers.

This provision has never gone into effect because NICS cannot be used and a new system would have to be created from scratch. That has not happened because the records do not exist in a form which can easily be imported into a searchable database.

In case anyone thought our politicians would simply let the matter drop there’s this:

“New York Attorney General Letitia James, as part of a coalition of 16 attorneys general, is fighting to ensure states have the right to use various means to protect their residents from gun violence. In an amicus brief filed in support of the State of California in Rhode v. Becerra, Attorney General James and the coalition defend a California law that requires gun dealers to conduct background checks prior to all ammunition sales, and that also requires all ammunition sales to occur face-to-face, among other requirements. The coalition argues that states have the right to enact reasonable firearm restrictions that protect public safety and reduce the prevalence of gun violence in their states …”

Newsbits

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Sunday’s Newsbits:

Elections:

Jurisprudence:

NRA:

Politics:

Ortt elected Minority Leader

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Senator Robert Ortt was elected Republican Minority Leader replacing outgoing drunk John Flanagan.

He has been supportive of gun rights in the past.  Whether he will be effective in his new leadership role is the question.  Nick Langworthy is a joke and if Will Barclay were any more low energy he’d be declared legally dead.  Further, I expect Democrats will have a supermajority in both chambers after the November elections.

RES 1334-2020 introduced

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RES 1334-2020 was introduced to City Council.

It calls for Congress to fund the Cure Violence program, makes references to Gov. Cuomo’s “States for Gun Safety” coalition, and includes payoffs to so-called “violence interrupters.”