All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
The Brady Bunch is trying again to intimidate Nan Hayworth into co-sponsoring Carolyn McCarthy’s magazine ban H.R. 308 via their Twitter feed:
There’s no reason for Hayworth to listen to them. John Hall didn’t. The antis have no ability to impact elections in the state.
Kinderhook Sportsmen held a fundraiser BBQ and shoot for Chris Gibson on Sunday. Dick Nelson has a good write up of the event in today’s column in the Register Star.
Here is a picture of Gibson I took when he was range with a .22.
The nationwide reciprocity bill H.R. 822 now has 241 co-sponsors. Nan Hayworth reportedly has agreed to sign on. I am waiting to see if she follows through with it.
My first thought when I saw the title of this article, “If Rudolph Giuliani runs, it’ll be a different campaign,” was, what is he going to do differently? Tell the truth that he is a big antigun RINO with delusions of grandeur?
“… Left unspoken was the policy gulf in 2008 between GOP voters and Giuliani, whose moderate views on some social issues limited his reach. If anything, that gulf would appear broader in 2012, given the increasing power of social conservatives in early contests …”
Especially gun owners who remember his antigun record on everything from the Sullivan Law to suing gunmakers.
In the past Mayor Bloomberg has tried dolling out campaign cash to politicians who support his hot button issues, especially gun control, in hopes of advancing his political agenda. He’s had limited success going this route. Next he formed Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which is essentially just a front for Bloomberg himself and is designed to give the impression of widespread political support for his agenda. MAIG too has met with limited success.
Now it seems he’s come up with a new way of spreading money around through his charity Bloomberg Philanthropies. A story at the Ledger-Enquirer has some details, “Bloomberg gives mayors $24M grants for innovation“:
“… mayors in Chicago, Louisville, Ky.; Memphis, Tenn.; and New Orleans will split $24 million in grants to fund programs addressing what they have identified as priorities in their cities, from energy efficiency to handgun violence. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the grants Thursday as part of the Mayors Project, a new government innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies … Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton Jr. … will tackle two priorities: revive areas of Memphis cut off by highway construction and approach handgun violence as a public health crisis …”
Impressive. He’s figured out a new tax deductible way to try and screw us. Wonder if he’s trying to set this up as a money funnel similar to what the Joyce Foundation does in bankrolling all sorts of gun control groups?
The Daily Beast reports on Obama’s gun control plan, “Obama’s Quiet Guns Crackdown“:
“… Administration officials told Newsweek and The Daily Beast that starting as early as next week, Obama will begin a series of changes designed to tighten regulations and penalties under current laws—bypassing a fight in Congress with the pro-gun National Rifle Association in the process. The changes will include: A national electronic system designed to make background checks for handgun buyers simpler and faster, leaving an electronic paper trail under a law named for James Brady, Ronald Reagan’s press secretary who was wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on the president …”
We need to watch to see if this becomes defacto registration.
“… A new reporting requirement that federally licensed gun shops report any person who tries to buy two long-arm weapons near the Mexican border over a five-day period …”
Bloomberg loves this. NRA does not.
“… Tougher sentencing guidelines for straw buyers that Holder’s department pushed through procedural hoops at the U.S. Sentencing Commission earlier this year …”
Going to have see what exactly this is.
This whole thing looks like Obama is trying to shift the discussion away from the Fast & Furious scandal. Brit Hume is right on when he calls it a cover-up:
Do we really need to go through this crap again? From the Boston Globe, “Spokeswoman: Giuliani to decide ‘very soon’“:
“Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will decide whether to run for president “very soon,” his New Hampshire spokeswoman said today …”
Dear God, why? His last campaign was a total farce. The man has no support.
“… Giuliani will visit New Hampshire this Thursday and Friday, yet spokeswoman Alicia Preston said he is not expected to announce his plans on this trip … He will then meet with gun owners, National Rifle Association members, and motorcyclists at Manchester Harley Davidson, followed by a private dinner …”
While I don’t see Giuliani’s campaign going anywhere, this is why it was a big mistake for David Keane to basically say NRA is going to endorse the GOP presidential candidate regardless of their record.
Today is the last day for Paul Helmke at the Brady Campaign. Despite suffering major defeats in the court and an inability to move an agenda in Congress and most of the states, Helmke insists the antis will win in the end. A successor has not been named yet. I don’t think Colin Goddard will be it. He’s a bit young and I don’t believe he has the management skills necessary to run their operation.
In any event, Paul decides to leave us laughing with these closing remarks:
… “I am not trying to ban all guns,” he said. “I don’t want to take everyone’s guns away. I’m not anti-gun. And I’m constantly having to say Brady doesn’t mean we are going to disarm everybody …” …
USA Today reports, “Obama aide: Gun legislation in ‘near future’“:
“… White House spokesman Jay Carney said a special task force has been “working through these complex issues, and we expect to have some more specific announcements in the near future.” …”
Wonder if that “special task force” has anything to do with Project Gunrunner?
“… the real action in Washington this week isn’t the partisan wrangling over the debt ceiling but something — literally — even more incendiary: Operation Fast and Furious, which seems about to explode right in the face of Attorney General Eric Holder — and maybe other administration officials, too … With the Obama administration wedded to the fiction that 90 percent of the guns Mexican cartels use originate here — they don’t — many suspect that “Fast and Furious” was a backdoor attempt to smear domestic gun aficionados as part of its stealth efforts on gun control by executive fiat …”
I still cannot see Obama coming out with a grand scale gun control proposal along the lines of the Clinton AWB. With his approval ratings heading south, I can understand the need to shore up his base but pandering to the antis isn’t the way to do it. They have no organized constituency like big labor, no voter base to turn out and no money to throw around. It makes little sense for him to reach out to fringe groups which cannot give him the political support he needs if he wants to be re-elected next year.