All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
What everybody has been waiting for: NYSRPA files lawsuit against NYC over pistol license fees and SAF Files Federal Lawsuit Against Bloomberg Over Gun Permit Fees.
Mayor Bloomberg could see this one coming and he’s worried: … “We want to be in compliance with the law…so that we don’t want to lose the ability to have reasonable controls. If we have controls that the courts have ruled too onerous or too unfair, we could lose the whole thing,” Bloomberg said …
The Philipstown Board has their next meeting scheduled for this Thursday where their proposed ordinance prohibiting guns on town property may come up. The issue has gotten much attention from area gunnies, more than I originally expected, including people from Garrison Fish & Game and Putnam Fish & Game.
Local politicians are getting in on the act too. Greg Ball mailed out a district wide flyer announcing a rally will be held outside Town Hall prior to Thursdays scheduled meeting. This was picked up by ILA and redistributed to their e-mail list last week. Yesterday Putnam Co. Exec. candidate MaryEllen Odell sent out a press release denouncing the proposal and saying she will be there Thursday.
Philipstown.info covers the issue, “Gun Rights Rally Planned.” Supervisor Shea seems to be backpedaling on the issue. He is up for re-election this fall and probably realizes this is going to hurt his campaign.
NYSRPA is seeking to speak with individuals who currently hold NYC Residence Premises handgun licenses regarding an important issue. Please contact Tom King at 518-424-1349 at your earliest convenience.
President Obama formally announced his bid for re-election this morning.
Given his record of SCOTUS nominations, his choice of Andrew Traver to head ATF and his recent statements, guns will be an issue in the 2012 campaign.
Legislative Report #7 is now online.
No new action on microstamping bills in Albany, but the NSSF and industry reps. will be in Washington next week promoting federal legislation to study the feasibility of the technology as well as other issues.
Aside from a few crap editorials, the Brady Bunch got nothing from their anniversary celebration yesterday in Washington. I don’t see any evidence of new momentum in Congress for any of their issues.
On the plus side (for us), Chris Gibson and Bill Owens are co-sponsoring the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011, H.R. 822.
The Brady’s are on the Hill today celebrating the 30th anniversary of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. It appears they’re still trying to get Congressman Michael Grimm to go along with their agenda as they have a meeting scheduled for this afternoon with him.
With both races close, it appears we went 1 for 2 in yesterdays special elections. In Suffolk, Martin Haley appears to have lost 48% to 51% in the race for county legislature. In Rochester, antigunner Bill Johnson lost a 3-way race for Mayor 42% to 49% and 9%.
There’s a push for new domestic violence legislation in Albany. The problem here is the overly broad and somewhat vague definitions used in various bills including A-4488 which could be used against gun owners for minor things like flipping the bird to someone while driving. The issue bears watching to make sure gun rights don’t get trampled upon.
Going back to last weeks posting, the Miami Herald acknowledges the obvious, “30 years after Reagan shot, outlook dim for gun control“:
“Wednesday is the 30th anniversary of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. Gun-control advocates, including Reagan’s wounded press secretary, Jim Brady, will use the day to launch a renewed push for curbs on guns. Once again, chances are they won’t get very far … President Barack Obama, though he urged gun-control action in an essay March 13 in the Arizona Daily Star newspaper, hasn’t made a strong push. Congress is likely to remain preoccupied with budget battles, with lawmakers unlikely to tackle the divisive issue of guns …”
The antis are losing and it’s good to see at least some lamestream media outlets admitting it.