All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
Obama has renominated former NYS Solicitor General Caitlin Halligan to the federal district court in Washington D.C..
NRA opposed her the first time around on the basis she tried to undermine the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Senate Republicans fillibustered the nomination last December and she was not confirmed. Given that the President is even more unpopular now than he was back then I do not see her nomination moving forward.
CBS reports that the House Oversight Committee will hold a vote next week on holding Eric Holder in contempt over his refusal to answer questions pertaining to the “Fast & Furious” gunwalking program.
From an election standpoint, I don’t see Holder being charged with contempt as having much of an effect on Obama’s re-election chances simply because the economy is such an overriding factor right now. I suspect that is why Obama has not given Holder the boot because I cannot otherwise see having him around this long after the scandal become public has been a plus for this administration unless there’s something really good going on behind the scenes that nobody knows about.
Former Assemblyman David Koon, who was defeated in the ’10 elections, announced he’s running again this fall:
“… Koon entered politics after his teenage daughter, Jennifer, was abducted in 1993 from a suburban Rochester parking lot and murdered. The horrific incident led Koon to be a national advocate for improved 911 service, particularly for cell phones …”
That’s not what he was best known for. He was a flaming antigunner and sponsor/co-sponsor of just about every antigun bill introduced in the Assembly and would happily advocate for them on the floor whenever one came up for a vote. He stops just short of being as detestable as Michelle Schimel (her voice gives her the edge.)
Assembly debate over the microstamping bill did not happen today. The bill has been on 3rd Reading since January so the only reason I can see for wanting public discussion is waning support for the bill in the lower house.
To be helpful, I sent out a statewide press release, “Schimel’s Gun Control Proposal Lacks Public Support.“
Microstamping bill A-1157B is on the Assembly Debate List for today. The session is scheduled to start at 1:30pm with a live feed available here.
I cannot recall any other gun control bill being put on the debate list in the Assembly in the past 20 years. This is another sign the antis are having problems bringing it to the floor for a vote. Michelle Schimel must be getting desperate.
Some speculation that Mitt Romney could name his running mate before the GOP convention, “Romney could pick VP early, and cash in often“:
“This year, there is at least a small chance that Republican Mitt Romney might break with tradition and name his vice presidential choice earlier in the summer … The tradition is to announce the No. 2 around the time of the convention to inspire grassroots activists and seek maximum publicity for the final two-month push to the November 6 election. But in this case, the Romney team has discussed whether to announce the pick a few weeks earlier to generate buzz for his campaign during August and help raise campaign funds …”
While those may be valid reasons for announcing his pick early, a much better reason is to shore up his lackluster support among traditional GOP constituencies, including gun owners. Being the anti-Obama candidate is probably not enough to motivate undecided and independent voters to turn out and vote on election day. People would much rather have someone they support on the ballot, as opposed to just a choice between the lesser of two evils.
A good VP pick, with solid pro-gun credentials (not Chris Christie), would go a long way in helping Romney win this November.
In spite of having more than twice the money and a party enrollment advantage of more than 3-1, Democrat NYC Councilman Lew Fidler lost to newcomer Republican David Storobin in the SD-27 special election by 16 votes.
This is especially amusing as Fidler’s campaign paid for a pro-gun control mailer to the district which angered one of our members sufficiently enough to go out an vote against him.
When I first saw yesterday’s tweet about the Governor and microstamping I naturally assumed the worst. After reading this story in the Daily News and seeing the video of the press conference where the topic comes up, I believe this was probably just a set up done by NYAGV with the help of their friends at the Daily News.
Jump to the 9:15 mark to see where the reporter asks about microstamping.
“Cuomo says he’d like to see microstamping bill passed, but he doesn’t expect it to happen any time soon.”