Pre-filed bills for the 2011-12 session have started to appear. Nothing really important yet.
Disenfranchising voters
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.
Bye, bye Antoine
Stick a fork in Antoine Thompson, he’s done.
Bloomie’s bucks
“Assemblyman Joseph Morelle got a $3,800 donation from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, his latest campaign finance reports show. The donation arrived Nov. 5, three days after the election, records show. The donation was prompted by Morelle’s support of microstamping – legislation meant to enhance prosecution of gun violence …”
More like persecution of gun owners.
Johnson-Martins race
I think it’s time for Craig Johnson to give it up too. He has lost his re-election bid in SD-7 to Jack Martins. All the ballots have been counted an Martins is ahead by 400+ votes.
Gee Craig, perhaps supporting microstamping wasn’t such a good idea considering this got you bupkiss from both NYAGV and the Brady’s. Showing up at the Sportsmen’s Caucus breakfast after co-sponsoring microstamping didn’t win you any friends either.
Bloomie’s bodyguard behaving badly
What will Mayor Mike say in response to this?
“NYPD officer Leopold McLean, who had long worked on security detail for Mayor Bloomberg, has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting his girlfriend’s ex-lover and then trying to cover it up … Other charges against McLean include assault, criminal use of a firearm and reckless endangerment …”
Breathtaking B.S.
The New York Times is upset that the NRA filed a lawsuit to allow 18-20 year olds to purchase handguns. Today’s op-ed, “Handguns for 18-Year-Olds?“, has this gem:
“… Beyond the dubious legal claims, the idea that young individuals ages 18 to 20 have a constitutional right to buy weapons and carry them loaded and concealed in public is breathtakingly irresponsible …”
But it’s ok for them to exercise other civil rights like voting, at least as long as its for the right person:
“… Two years ago, the University of Miami could not get enough Barack Obama. The campaign rally he held here felt like a rock concert, his face appeared on T-shirts all over campus, and pro-Obama volunteers registered 2,000 new voters … Mr. Obama won two years ago with 66 percent of the 18- to 29-year-old vote, a historic proportion. Americans under 30 also worked on campaigns at a greater rate than the general population did for the first time since 1952, or possibly even earlier …”
Given that Obama’s political fortunes have been reversed, how long before the NYT writes an op-ed calling for raising the voting age.
The future of microstamping
Good article over at The Capitol on the future of microstamping legislation, “Taking another shot.”
Some highlights:
“… Andrew Cuomo, has come out strongly in favor of microstamping as well, calling it “a common sense and low-cost method of expanding the ability of police to identify guns used in illegal activities.” …”
While this is technically true, what Cuomo actually did was bury his support inside his 200+ page political manifesto. I didn’t see him try to campaign on the issue.
“… [Eric] Schneiderman is not leaving the issue to the governor. Already, he said, he is planning to wield his new authority to support legislation in any way possible … Sources close to Schneiderman say that his advocacy for the technology could take the form of a program bill introduced in the next legislative session …”
No surprise here. I knew he wasn’t going to let the issue drop.
“… But if the recounts end with a Republican Senate majority hostile to gun control legislation, the prospects of passage are dim …”
Good news: Prospects of passage are dim.
The coming battle
It looks as if Andrew Cuomo is preparing for battle with the legislature and interest groups (see here and here.) It appears that public sector unions are his primary target as the state is a financial mess.
I am wondering how much effort he’s going to put into promoting gun control? Microstamping was buried in his manefesto. It would not surprise me if he largely ignores the issue himself and lets Eric Schneiderman be the point man.