Gun Politics New York

Now that Poughkeepsie Mayor John Tkazyik is running for the GOP nomination for State Senate, he’s determined that his prior involvement in MAIG is a liability:

“I’m the mayor of one of the largest cities in the Hudson Valley, just 90 minutes north of New York City. I’m a life member of the National Rifle Association and a former member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, or MAIG, started by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2006 …”

Translation: I don’t think I’m going to get anything more out of MAIG so I’m switching sides.

“… I’m no longer a member of MAIG. Why? Just as Ronald Reagan said of the Democratic Party, it left me. And I’m not alone: Nearly 50 pro-Second Amendment mayors have left the organization. They left for the same reason I did. MAIG became a vehicle for Bloomberg to promote his personal gun-control agenda — violating the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens and taking resources away from initiatives that could actually work to protect our neighborhoods and save precious lives. Gun control will actually make a bad situation worse …”

MAIG has always been about gun control.  Funny how he didn’t figure this out until deciding to run for state legislature.

“… I was first elected mayor of Poughkeepsie in 2007. At the time, it was a city that had grown weary of burying its young. Homicides were so commonplace that a newspaper without a murder story was news. Gangs roamed downtown streets and neighborhoods, terrorizing law-abiding citizens and selling drugs in broad daylight. As the drug wars escalated and gangs battled over turf, kids were killing kids …”

Poughkeepise has had crime problems, but the public wasn’t crying out for more gun control.

“… I vowed to do everything in my power to make our streets and neighborhoods safer. MAIG approached me with the promise that they’d assist me in developing effective approaches to clear our streets of criminals, get guns out of the hands of convicted felons, crack down on the drug trade and rid our streets of gangs that were terrorizing a city. I joined MAIG with this understanding …”

And in all those years you never bothered to once check what exactly MAIG was doing, especially considering they were using your name?  When you joined the NRA, did you know they were a gun advocacy group and not a bunch of foodies?

“… It did not take long to realize that MAIG’s agenda was much more than ridding felons of illegal guns; that under the guise of helping mayors facing a crime and drug epidemic, MAIG intended to promote confiscation of guns from law-abiding citizens. I don’t believe, never have believed and never will believe that public safety is enhanced by encroaching on our right to bear arms, and I will not be a part of any organization that does …”

Well, not any longer …

“… Those who doubt this hard fact might want to study Chicago, which has among the most restrictive gun-control laws in the country, as well as some of the highest rates of gun-related crime and killing. Depriving law-abiding citizens of their right to own firearms only makes them more vulnerable …”

He had to have gotten this from some NRA talking point.

“… What works against gun violence is reducing the number of illegal guns available to criminals through cash-for-tips programs; eliminating plea bargaining in cases of gun-related crime; and strengthening surveillance and neighborhood policing in problem areas — initiatives I’ve spearheaded …”

Cash-for-tips, also known as snitch on your neighbor, ain’t working.

“… And, fundamentally, troubled urban areas desperately need an economy that welcomes businesses to locate and remain in our cities. Robust respect for the Second Amendment rights of the law abiding does this by discouraging theft and enhancing personal safety …”

Yep, New York is in a poor economic state due to decades of failed “progressive” politics.  As for robustness, should we expect public condemnation of SAFE and Sullivan sometime soon?

“… Unless Bloomberg and MAIG recognize and implement these principles, their efforts are doomed not only to fail, but also to cause further — if unintended — harm …”

Failure is always an option, including for political candidates.

Remember when Governor Cuomo had visions of himself as a national leader and was going to ride on a wave of gun control into the White House in 2016?  Those days are long gone:

“… A new Quinnipiac University poll of Florida voters was anything but encouraging to Cuomo’s widely described interest in entering the 2016 presidential contest.  The poll, released Friday, not surprisingly found Hillary Rodham Clinton the runaway favorite, at 64 percent, among Democrats asked to pick their favorite presidential contender.  She was followed by Vice President Joe Biden, a distant second with 9 percent.  What was surprising was that a “progressive’’ favorite, freshman Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, placed third, with 5 percent of the tally, and that Cuomo was in a three-way time for fourth, with a mere 1 percent, with Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner …”

This poll shows the Governor has problems with Democrats, not “extremist” Republicans.  Perhaps his fellow party members have come to realize that Cuomo just doesn’t have what it takes to be President.

Gun control was not a big issue in the State of the Union address:

“… A year after making a call for his broad gun control agenda the emotional big finish, Obama devoted just two sentences to preventing gun violence … “Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day,” Obama said, according to prepared remarks. “I have seen the courage of parents, students, pastors, and police officers all over this country who say “we are not afraid,” and I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook.” …”

I guess Obama was following Governor Cuomo’s lead as his State of the State devoted only two sentences on gun control as well.

“… Gun control advocates … are left to be satisfied that Obama simply reiterated its commitment to reforms …”

But they’re not.  Cuomo went all-in for gun control, betting his presidential aspirations on the issue.  It’s clear that was not a good move.  As Politico notes:

“… A year later gun control is deader than dead …”

So his Cuomo’s political career on the national stage.  He chose … poorly.