All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
The State Senate passed a bill making some minor changes to the SAFE Act in particular the ammo registration part.
Senator Daniel Squadron tried making some noise about it, but it is not like he and everybody else didn’t know the bill was coming to the floor for a vote.
Here’s a press statement I wrote for the media about it.
Shootings have been up in New York City over the last two years since the SAFE Act was passed into law.
Bloomberg’s astroturf put on another dog-and-pony media show this week by encouraging people to wear orange this past Tuesday. The Mets went along with it. Now at least one of the team, pitcher Dillon Gee, is claiming he was suckered into posing for the picture:
http://t.co/2B6lhSjyGz this is not why i put on that shirt this day. I in no way support bloomberg/Morgan or gun control.
— Dillon Gee (@DillonGee35) June 3, 2015
@MetsFanInPhilly was told it was in support of raising awareness for gun violence. I don't support senseless gun violence. That's all.
— Dillon Gee (@DillonGee35) June 3, 2015
To be fair, the players probably do a lot of events like this and it is possible Gee did not know exactly what cause they were promoting. Nevertheless, he should have asked some questions before allowing his name to be associated with a social cause that everybody knows has a political aspect.
New Yorkers Against Gun Violence sent a letter to the Buffalo Common Council trying to get them to state public opposition to NRA-backed CCW reciprocity legislation.
At some point reciprocity is going to happen. The GOP leadership in Congress needs to find their backbone and move on it this session so it can be used as an issue in the next Presidential campaign.
The St. Lawrence Co. Legislature passed a local law which defines “proper cause” for pistol license applicants.
Here is video of yesterday’s legislative meeting:
Problem is this sort of thing was already tried in Suffolk Co. ~25 years ago by amending the county charter and the court ruled it is not legal. Don’t know if they were aware of this, but I get the impression they are expecting some issues:
“… County Attorney Stephen D. Button said … the law can’t force the judge to change his policy …”
Legislative Report #9 is now online.
The Washington Post reports:
“Former New York Gov. George E. Pataki — a moderate Republican who led the state through the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — on Thursday announced a long-shot bid for the presidency …”
No, what he did was announce that he is available for Republican-bashing media interviews, paid speaking engagements and parties thrown by aging Rockafeller RINOs on the Upper West Side.
Interesting case from Nassau Co.:
“A Brooklyn judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s ban on possession of chukka sticks in one’s home. Federal Judge Pamela Chen ruled Friday that Long Island lawyer James Maloney can put his case before a jury whether a chukka stick is a lawful weapon for martial artists to use in self-defense … Maloney contends that the law violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms, arguing that the chukka sticks are possessed by “law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes,” according to court papers …”
And why not? Advocates are pushing for repeal of knife laws based upon 2nd Amendment grounds as well.
“… Another sign of the worsening split between Long Island Senate Republicans and key GOP constituency groups came last week as the state Rifle and Pistol Association urged members to run campaigns against Republicans who voted for the SAFE Act. “These people are without the backbone or the will required to do what must be done, so they must be ousted at the ballot box,’’ said association president Tom King …”
We need to find viable candidates to primary them.