Legislative Report #7

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Legislative Report #7 is now online.

Senate Codes Committee Agenda for Tuesday, April 28:

  • S-2050 – Relates to prohibiting the possession of certain 50 caliber firearms; directs the division of state police to embark on a program whereby persons currently in lawful possession of such weapons may be reimbursed for the fair market value thereof upon turning in such weapons to a designated officer
  • S-2491 – Enacts the “Children’s Weapon Accident Prevention Act”; creates crimes of failure to store a weapon safely in the first and second degrees, aggravated failure to store a weapon, and criminally negligent storage of a weapon in the first and second degrees; provides affirmative defenses; directs the Commissioner of Education to develop a weapons safety program
  • S-2900 – Authorizes the possession of a handgun being sold by a dealer in firearms upon the premises of such dealer

Antigun lobby day is set for Tuesday, May 4.  Expect a bus load of astroturf in the LOB.

Political theater

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When dealing with the state legislature, it is important to know the difference between serious actions and political theater.

Here are examples of the latter:

We go through this every year. A handful of Assembly Republicans ask some of their pro-gun bills be put on the committee agenda. There is a party line and the bills are held for consideration with no further action taken.

The legislature is not going to repeal SAFE. Neither chamber is even going to allow a bill to come up for a vote. Politicians who say otherwise are just pandering to their base. Groups who say otherwise are not being honest with their constituency.

How Might Gun Laws Impact the 2016 Race?

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Halbrook article on SAFE

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Stephen Halbrook wrote an article for the Albany Law Review on the SAFE Act titled, “New York’s not so “SAFE” Act: The Second Amendment in an Alice-in-Wonderland world where words have no meaning.“

SAFE cost Byron Brown #2 spot

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Interesting bit in this article from the Buffalo News:

“… The Buffalo mayor [Byron Brown] has taken great pains over the years to maintain his spot on the Conservative line, even losing a party primary to new best friend Kevin Helfer in 2005. Brown can only wonder what might have been without that “C” behind his name. His reluctance to embrace Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s SAFE Act gun control law may have very well cost him a shot at becoming lieutenant governor last year …”

The fallout from SAFE will go on for years and years.

Poughkeepsie press conference

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I attended a press conference outside Poughkeepsie City Hall in opposition to a proposed mandatory firearms storage law.


 

In the picture are, left to right:

  • 4th Ward Councilman Lee David Klein
  • 9th District Dutchess County Legislator Gwen C. Johnson
  • NYSRPA Tom King
  • 105th Assemblyman Kieran Lalor
  • City of Poughkeepise Mayor John Tkazyik

City of Poughkeepsie press conference

Hillary announces, Cuomo evaporates

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Hillary Clinton has kicked off her Presidential campaign.

“… Clinton, the first to enter the Democratic presidential field, enters the race as the prohibitive favorite for the nomination … A CNN/ORC International poll in March found that Clinton held a 50-point lead over her closest competitor, Vice President Joe Biden. What’s more, the three Democrats most actively teasing a presidential run — former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont — all received no more than 3% support among Democrats and independents that lean Democratic …”

Where’s Governor Cuomo in all this?  According to their poll, he went from 1% in December to N/A in March.

Guess Democrats weren’t as impressed with him being a national leader on gun control as much as Andrew thought they would be.

They never learn

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I have seen this many times before:

“… “Every time a Democrat starts talking about guns, they lose numbers because it is the Second Amendment,” said Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, a Democratic strategist and lifelong gun owner. “How many gun owners are there in America now? Look it up. There is a bunch of them, and anytime you start talking about guns, you are going to take from your numbers. So there is just less talk [about gun control] now than there has been in forever.” …”

The problem here is that while Democrats aren’t talking about gun control, that does not mean they have given up on the idea.

“… Gun control groups, powered by potentially tens of millions of dollars from former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, vow to press the issue and force candidates to take a stand …”

Who was the last Democrat to listen to Bloomberg?  Governor Cuomo.  The result of him listening to Bloomberg effectively ended his presidential aspirations.

Will Hillary (and others) learn from this?  I wouldn’t count on it.

Rand Paul running for President

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Senator Rand Paul officially announced he is running for the 2016 GOP nomination for President.

I like the guy too, but as with Ted Cruz, he’s got to show early on that he has the ability to raise serious money.  He also needs to keep the crackpots his father attracted away from the campaign.