{"id":14544,"date":"2017-05-24T15:46:50","date_gmt":"2017-05-24T19:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gunpoliticsny.com\/?p=14544"},"modified":"2017-05-24T15:46:50","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T19:46:50","slug":"scotus-on-gerrymandering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gunpoliticsny.com\/?p=14544","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS on gerrymandering"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gun owners spend a lot of time thinking about the next gun case SCOTUS<\/a> will take up but there is another issue pending in the courts that could have a big impact especially in New York.\u00a0 See The Hill’s article, “Will the Supreme Court draw the line on gerrymandering?<\/a>“<\/em><\/p>\n

Roughly 95% of our state legislature is re-elected every cycle in large part due to decades of gerrymandering which have made all but a handful of races competitive.\u00a0 Since both chambers have to agree on district lines the majorities in each draw the districts to favor the party in power, Democrats in the Assembly<\/a> and Republicans in the Senate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If SCOTUS were to issue a decision that invalidates gerrymandering and New York was forced to redraw districts fairly it would impact gun rights in two ways:<\/p>\n

First, there would be more competitive elections than there are now increasing opportunities for political action.\u00a0 That’s good.<\/p>\n

Second, it would in all likelihood wipe out the Senate Republicans<\/a>.\u00a0 That’s bad, but since it is only a matter of time<\/a> before that happens anyway, it isn’t such a big deal.<\/p>\n

Knowing this, I think this could be a plus for us.<\/p>\n