All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
The Attorney General’s response to the SAFE lawsuit is now available on the NYSRPA website. At 93 pages long it basically rehashes the same arguments the antigunners have been making for years and can be summed up thusly: SAFE does not infringe upon 2A rights and the case should be dismissed.
Raquel Okyay goes into some more detail in her Human Events article, “Cuomo strikes back at gun rights lawsuit.“
Another bunch of State Senators were on the receiving of a protest by people upset with their SAFE votes yesterday. As Capitol Tonight reports:
“The power of the SAFE Act backlash has not diminished over time … A trio of senators got a rude awakening to the organizing abilities of the anti-SAFE Act movement during an event held in Buffalo yesterday afternoon. Senate Co-Leaders Dean Skelos and Jeff Klein traveled to Western New York to attend a policy event hosted by Sen. Mark Grisanti in the afternoon, and then headline a fund-raiser for the Buffalo Republican in the evening. The afternoon event was supposed to focus on efforts in the Senate to help unemployed veterans, but it was hijacked by angry anti-SAFE Act protestors, who shouted down the senators when they tried – largely in vain – to stick to the scheduled program …”
This is the second protest this month of Senators who voted in favor of the SAFE Act.
Much has been made recently about Mayor Bloomberg using City funds for his antigun initiatives (see here and here).
Of course, he isn’t the only one. The Clown Council approved a $30,000 line item on page 4 in the FY2014 budget for New Yorkers Against Gun Violence with the money directed towards, “Anti-gun violence services related to employment training, job and internship placements, program development and evaluation, and organizational capacity building.”
First round of antigunners respond to the SAFE lawsuit:
“Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Rochester Police Chief James Sheppard and a top State Police lawyer all filed sworn statements as part of over 100 pages filed by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in reply to the suit, which was brought in March in a federal court in Buffalo. “New York’s bans on assault weapons and large- capacity magazines do not even implicate Plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights, because such weapons are not within the scope of Second Amendment protection,” the state argues in court papers. “In any event, even if they did substantially burden Plaintiffs’ rights, these provisions so clearly satisfy New York’s interests in public safety and crime prevention that they easily survive constitutional scrutiny.” …
“Rice and Kevin Bruen, the State Police lawyer, argue assault rifles are ill-suited for home defense because their rounds can easily pierce walls and injure family members. Shotguns, Bruen rights, are preferable …”
Was not expecting them to cite noted firearms expert Joe Biden though.
Second round of antis respond:
“… “Assault weapons are enablers of violent crime and mass murder,” the Major City Chiefs Association said in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in U.S. District Court in Buffalo. The association, which counts Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda and 62 other urban police chiefs as members, views the new law as an important step in curbing the illegal use of assault weapons …”
They’re politically appointed and not directly accountable to the people, unlike members of the NYS Sheriffs Association which opposes SAFE.
Not all think creating special classes of people with SAFE exemptions is a good thing.
First, Greg Ball explains his vote:
Next, Bill Nojay calls for Seklos’ resignation. From his original e-mail to Fred Dicker:
“Skelos is either too dumb to understand he just played Useful Idiot to Cuomo’s efforts to further Balkanize the GOP, or he is intentionally igniting a civil war within the Republican Party and what is left of the Republican base. Either way, Skelos’ doubling down on support for the SAFE Act is another wedge for internal divide within the GOP at exactly the time they should be unifying for the beginning of the 2014 election cycle. If Cuomo is behind it all, I’ll give him credit for brillant political gamesmanship. At this point the only way to salvage the 2014 cycle for the Senate GOP is for his fellow Republicans to thank Skelos for his service and let him retire to spend more time with his family.”
Legislative Report #10 is now online.
The legislature has not gone into recess yet. Despite popular demand, they will be in session today.
Late last night the Senate approved a bill exempting retired police from certain provisions of the SAFE Act:
“… Republican Sen. Marty Golden, a retired NYPD officer from Brooklyn, said the change would affect 200,000 people around the state. “After working 20 years or 30 years as a police officer, or a peace officer, or as a federal officer, they encounter people when they are with their families and when they are in their communities, and they act appropriately,” he said. “They’re not a separate class of people, ladies and gentleman, but they are an experience class of people. … They know how to deal with the criminal element, so if anybody deserves to have a 10-round magazine” it is them …”
They’re doing this hoping to get the police unions off their backs. What it will likely do is inflame an already seriously pissed off public, especially with Golden’s statement. Since Dean Skelos has to know he’s dug himself and the Senate Republicans into a deep hole over their original SAFE vote, I guess he figures that since they can’t climb out, why not keep on digging?
The Pocono Record reports that Kahr Arms is considering relocating their corporate headquarters from Rockland across the state line to Pike County:
“A gun manufacturer is considering buying the entire 620-acre Pike County business park for $2 million to escape an unfriendly gun climate in New York. Kahr Firearms Group would move its corporate headquarters from in Pearl River, N.Y., to Pike County, bringing a some 100 jobs, company spokesman Frank Harris said … “We were ready to sign a deal in rural Orange County, N.Y. But when the governor passed stricter gun control, it made it tough to continue on that path, so we jumped over the river,” Harris said …”
Pearl River is represented in Albany by Democrats Ellen Jaffee and David Carlucci, both of whom voted for the SAFE Act.
Oops.
MAIG has been getting some much deserved bad press today when it was discovered that they were “honoring” one of the Boston Bombers:
“Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older Boston Marathon bomber who was killed in a gunfight with police, was mentioned in a list of gun-violence victims who’ve died since the Newtown shooting at a Mayors Against Illegal Guns rally yesterday …”
Oops! After being picked up by national media outlets they quickly apologized:
“… “He was absolutely not a victim, his name should have been deleted before the list was provided to a family member for reading and his name should never have been read,” Mayors Against Illegal Guns said in a statement to ABC News. “It was a mistake, it should not have happened and we sincerely apologize.” …”
But wait, there’s more!
Here's another guy on #Bloomberg's victim list, he was shot by cops while threatening to kill a two-year-old girl. http://t.co/mgl6ryVSxW
— Kieran Michael Lalor (@KieranLalor) June 19, 2013