All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
Voter turnout was down in New York by 15% from 2008. Some of this can be attributed to Hurricane Sandy, but nationwide 14 million fewer people voted for president this time around so clearly it’s not just New York.
The AnarchAngel offers some analysis. The bottom line is that people just did not bother to vote.
… If you chose not to decide you still have made a choice …
Despite the fact that the candidates largely ignored their issues, the antigunners are claiming victory with Obama’s re-election.
Mayor Bloomberg is not one of them. His efforts at throwing money around didn’t work out so well:
“Late in this year’s election cycle, Mayor Michael Bloomberg suddenly announced the creation of a “super PAC,” Independence USA, through which the billionaire mayor could funnel unlimited sums of cash to candidates who support his political agenda of gun control, gay marriage and education reform. Looking at the federal races Mr. Bloomberg aimed to influence through the new political action committee, however, a majority of his candidates narrowly lost last night …”
See, it’s not all bad.
Obama won re-election. I find this astounding. He was dead silent on his signature “achievements”: Obamacare and the porkulus bill. The economy tanked, unemployment increased and the debt went through the roof. He did basically did nothing for the last two years after the Republicans took control of the House. In spite of this, he won.
Congresswomen Nan Hayworth, Ann Marie Buerkle and Kathy Hochul all lost. Buerkle’s loss is particularly bad given the money Mayor Bloomberg put into her opponent.
Control of the State Senate is in question. The Republicans managed to fuck themselves by losing a couple of seats once held by incumbents who voted for the gay marriage bill. This is real bad as the microstamping will likely go to the floor for a vote.
At the national level, I cannot see any gun control bill going anywhere. There just aren’t the votes to move it. The main concern, other than a return of stagflation, will be possible SCOTUS retirements.
In the aftermath of the storm, some residents are coming to the realization that they alone are responsible for their own personal safety and are acting accordingly:
“… Ever since Sandy strafed the Queens peninsula and tore up the boardwalk, it’s become an often lawless place where cops are even scarcer than electrical power and food. Locals say they are arming themselves with guns, baseball bats, booby traps — even a bow and arrow — to defend against looters …
This is just common sense, something Mayor Bloomberg sorely lacks. His solution was to shove his head further up his own butt and decline assistance from the National Guard because they carry guns:
“… “We don’t need it,” Mayor Bloomberg said on Wednesday during a press update on the city’s ongoing Hurricane Sandy cleanup. “The NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns.” …”
It should be blindly obvious that Bloomberg’s approach is not working.
It is too soon to see if this will translate in legislative action to reform New York’s gun laws next session.
Politico reports that Mayor Bloomberg has spent $400,000 in CD-24 in an effort to unseat Congresswoman Anne Marie Buerkle. Buerkle has been very outspoken in her criticism of Eric Holder over the Fast & Furious scandal.
Mayor Bloomberg is really spreading it around:
“… On Tuesday, Bloomberg’s Independence USA committee spent $2,350,000 on a media buy to benefit Gloria Negrete McLeod, a Democratic State Senator in California who is trying to unseat the Democratic incumbent congressman, Joe Baca, whose positions on gun control the mayor has criticized …”
NRA rates Baca as B+ and McLeod as D.
Da Mayor is spending $1.1 million attacking Florida Congressman Daniel Webster and supporting his challenger Val Demings.
Here is a video from last year when Bloomberg’s FixGunChecks billboard truck visited Orlando that features Demings.
Here is the second NRA television advert they are running in battleground states:
It’s better than the first one, but I’m not impressed with it either. Cut it down to ~45 sec. by removing some of Obama quotes at the beginning and the handgun ban part at the end along with changing the imagery of hunters to something along the lines of what Oleg Volk creates would make it more effective and appealing to a wider audience.
