Aubertine picked

Gov. Cuomo has nominated Darrel Aubertine to be Agriculture Commissioner.

Aubertine had a solid pro-gun record while in both the Assembly and Senate, although that probably had nothing to do with this nomination.  Aubertine lost his re-election bid last November and was out of a job.

Martens for DEC

Gov. Cuomo has nominated Joe Martens to head the DEC.  The Post-Standard has some background information on him here.

I don’t know much about him, but I have not gotten a flood of complaints directed at him (yet.)

Microstamping reintroduced

The microstamping bill has been reintroduced in the State Senate as S-678 by Jose Peralta.  No companion in the Assembly yet.

Legislative Report #1

Legislative Report #1 is online with all the pre-filed bills available right now.  The session starts Wednesday with the Governor’s State of the State address.

GOP gun agenda

Newsmax reports on the Republican’s Congressional agenda:

“… Republicans promise to cut spending, roll back President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul and prevent unelected bureaucrats from expanding the government’s role in society through regulations that tell people what they must or can’t do …”

I don’t see where Republicans specifically spell out their intentions.  NRA has made it clear that their agenda for the new Congress includes nationwide CCW reciprocity.

Cuomo takes over

Andrew Cuomo has been sworn in as Governor.  Marvelous.

He has a proven track record as an antigunner going back to his time at HUD.  He didn’t make a big deal about guns during his campaign and I still believe Eric Schneiderman is going to be pointman on the issue.  We should know soon enough what the Governor is going to do.  Three things to look out for this month are:

  1. What he says during the State of the State address this Wednesday.
  2. Program bills, especially the state budget.
  3. Appointments, especially for the DEC.

With Schniederman, I know what he’s going to do: be a royal pain the in the ass and not just to New York gun owners.  I expect he’ll waste no time announcing all sorts of antigun initiatives at the state and national level.

The progressive alternative fails

Rather than punish violent, antisocial deviants, a bunch of State Senators championed Operation S.N.U.G., a touchy-feely anti-gun, anti-violence initiative that basically treats thugs as victims of our capitalist pig society.  Predictably, it has not gone so well as the TU reports, “Job lands parolee in jail“:

“The people who hired Jermal Greenwood as part of Operation SNUG, an experimental anti-violence initiative funded by a state grant, thought his background as an ex-offender made him a “credible messenger” and a “role model” to mediate disputes in the city’s roughest neighborhoods. But his parole officer, concerned that Greenwood was bending the rules, threw him in the Albany County jail Nov. 8 after charging him with failing to abide by his curfew and correctly charge his electronic monitoring bracelet 11 times in three weeks …”

Whose dumb idea was it to promote ex-cons as role models?

“… [S.N.U.G.] was championed by Democrats in the state Senate including Neil Breslin, a Bethlehem Democrat, and New York City Democrats Malcolm Smith, and Eric Schneiderman (the incoming attorney general) as a progressive alternative to break the ongoing of cycle of violence in urban neighborhoods …”

Of course.  So, what exactly is the goal of S.N.U.G.?

“… SNUG is based on Project Cease Fire in Chicago, which takes an epidemiological approach to urban violence. If the population is inoculated — children hearing stories of disputes settled by words rather than seeing street fights or shootings — and some of the worst carriers are isolated, eventually the problem goes away …”

We already have a proven solution to isolate “the worst carriers”.  It’s called prison.  What’s wrong with that?

“… “The evidence is absolutely conclusive that traditional law enforcement approaches have not succeeded in stopping gang violence,” Schneiderman, D-Manhattan, said. “This is an all-levers approach.”  …”

The evidence is absolutely conclusive that gun control != crime control, but that sure hasn’t stopped Schneiderman from promoting it.  And what exactly does an “all-levers approach” mean?

“… “The whole model is predicated on hiring credible messengers who will be able to circulate in the community among gang involved, violence involved, drug involved individuals,” [Trinity Alliance CEO Harris Oberlander] said.  “It’s important that we begin to create a body of work, a record in the community and a sense of evidence that we’ve begun to, as the model calls for, infiltrate the community with public health messages that counteract the fact that communal violence has been on the landscape for too long.” …”

Ex-cons are not credible messengers.  Parents are.  Teachers are.  Local businessmen are.  Local clergy are.  People who have not built their lives off the misery of others are.

“… “How are they supposed to help people if they themselves cannot uphold the rule of law?” said [Martin] Golden, a Brooklyn Republican and former New York City police officer …”

Exactly.

Customer fires shots at armed bank robber


News of the day

An early Christmas present arrives:  antigun and antihunting advocate Wally John was fired from his political appointment at the DEC.

Brian Kolb plugs Legislative Awareness Day here and here.

Two children playing with a parents handgun results in unintentional discharge and death.  Mouthpiece from New Yorkers Against Guns exploits tragedy by advocating mandatory storage.

Alan Chartock predicts “a reporter will be jailed on a gun charge” in ’11.

Remington has a new cartridge coming out for AR-pattern rifles, the .300 AAC Blackout, while SIG will be making a .50 cal rifle.