Celebrating Lennon’s death

Today is the 30th anniversary of the death of John Lennon and all the antis are celebrating on their Facebook pages: the Brady Campaign, Violence Policy Center and Protest Easy Guns.  They never miss an opportunity to exploit a tragedy to promote their agenda.

Paul Helmke let fly a press release which reads:

“… We’ve made some progress improving our guns laws over the last 30 years, most notably with the passage of the Brady Bill in 1993 that has stopped felons, the mentally ill and domestic abusers from making more than 1.9 million gun purchases from federally licensed dealers.  But more needs to be done to make our society a safer place …”

Noticeably absent is any mention of the Sullivan Act, which had been in effect for nearly 70 years at this time.  Mark David Chapman, of course, simply ignored it:

“… On Oct. 27 Chapman went to a Honolulu gun store and, for $169, bought a five-shot, short-barrel .38-caliber Charter Arms Special … He also tried to buy the .38 bullets he hadn’t bothered to buy in Honolulu. He found to his chagrin that New York’s Sullivan Law forbade their sale. He called Dana Reeves, now a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia, and said he wanted to visit his old friends … Chapman flew to Atlanta. While there, he told Reeves he had bought a gun for personal protection while he was in New York but he needed some bullets “with real stopping power.” Reeves supplied him with five hollow-point cartridges the kind that expand as they pass through their target …”

Helmke’s not about to acknowledge this.  In typical fashion, he simply ignores any inconvenient facts, just as all antis do when confronted with the reality that their gun control policies not only do not work, but actually contribute to senseless violence and deaths.

While Lennon himself may not have had any interest in carrying a gun for his protection, others clearly do and it is unconscionable for Helmke and his ilk continue to push their destructive policies especially under the banner of “Give Peace a Chance.

.50 ban pre-filed

The .50 caliber prohibition bill has been pre-filed for the 2011-12 session as S-86 by Dan Squadron.

Redistricting McCarthy out

Due to population outflow, New York is set to lose 2-3 Congressional seats in the next reapportionment.

Good news is Carolyn McCarthy’s seat could be one of them.  The equally detestable Louise Slaughter’s seat is also on the chopping block.

Power shift

The race in SD-37 is over.  The final count in the Senate is 32 Republicans and 30 Democrats.  Some of the newcomers don’t have a public record on the issue so it’s a little unclear what the pro/anti vote count would be.

With the loss of Frank Padavan in Queens more of the GOP power base moves out of Bloomberg territory so hopefully this will mean they are less likely to consider any gun control initiatives.

Castelli-Roach race

All the ballots have been counted in AD-89 and Robert Castelli is ahead by 165 votes over challenger Thomas Roach.  There are 239 disputed ballots left including Soros’.  It’s time for Roach to pack it in.

Challenging Soros

The AD-89 race is still to be decided with pro-gun incumbent Robert Castelli leading by about 100 votes.

Of course, with it this close, there are numerous legal challenges with the most interesting being George Soros’ ballot.  Seems he didn’t bother to actually sign the absentee ballot himself.

Bye, bye Craig

Craig Johnson is finished.  The Republicans have reclaimed the majority in the State Senate with at least 32 seats.  The SD-37 race is still undecided.

Pre-filed bills

Pre-filed bills for the 2011-12 session have started to appear.  Nothing really important yet.

Disenfranchising voters

Why New York has the lowest voter turnout:

Plus:

How the mighty have fallen

Today is the 17th anniversary of the Brady Law and the Brady Bunch are celebrating.  They are clearly hoping to relive their glory days.

Back then gun control was in vogue and the Brady’s (under the Handgun Control banner) were riding high.  They just passed their signature legislation and would follow it up a year later with the ugly gun and magazine ban.  Jim & Sarah were welcomed to the White House for signing ceremonies.  They were clearly on a roll … right up until the ’94 elections …

So, where is the gun control movement today?

  • The Supreme Court affirmed that the 2nd Amendment is a fundamental individual right, ending the antis ultimate dream of total firearms prohibition.
  • No new federal gun control laws have passed in years despite there being a Democrat in the White House and Democrat supermajorities in both the House and Senate for the past two years.
  • No new state gun control laws have passed in New York over the last decade.
  • Antigun members of Congress like Carolyn McCarthy won’t reintroduce proposals to reinstate the expired Clinton gun ban even as a symbolic gesture.
  • Antigun members of the state legislature stopped trying to advance all but one gun control bill this year for the first time in I don’t know how many years.
  • The national agenda has shifted from passing legislation to boycotting Starbucks and that’s not working either.
  • Money is drying up.
  • Their loudest supporter Mayor Bloomberg senses trouble on the horizon for his fiefdom, while another, Governor Ed Rendell, has surrendered.
  • The Assembly Republicans are inviting gun owners to come to Albany to lobby in January and actually putting some effort into getting people to show up.

How the mighty have fallen.