Posted on 02/01/2013 4:06:29 PM PST by neverdem
Governor Andrew Cuomo Seizes Your Gun Rights Overnight with Secret Deals, Procedural Shortcuts and Midnight Votes in Albany
Public Input Prevented on Gun Control Debate to Advance Agenda and Political Career
Governor Andrew Cuomo, in stunningly brazen fashion, took a hatchet to gun rights in New York with lightning speed. By cutting secret deals behind closed doors, eliminating public input and circumventing normal legislative processes, the Governor and state Senate passed sweeping anti-gun measures just before the stroke of midnight yesterday. Within 24 hours, Cuomo had his new gun control laws. Cuomo utilized a rarely-used executive trick, a "message of necessity" to bypass normal legislative procedures that are strictly followed on hundreds of bills each legislative session. Late last night as the clock approached midnight, the public was introduced to S. 2230,a hastily drafted bill that includes bans on commonly owned semi-automatic firearms and magazines, registration, and restrictions on ammunition purchases. This bill was released to legislators a scant twenty minutes prior to the Senate vote and quickly passed without proper vetting, committee consideration and debate, as previously reported on here.
Today, S. 2230 faced the state Assembly where it passed by a 104 to 43 vote and was signed into law by the Governor within an hour of its passage, taking immediate effect. During Assembly debate, it became obvious that the haste with which the bill was drafted and passed resulted in innumerable errors and flaws, damaging gun owners even worse than bill authors probably intended. The NRA-ILA lobbyist spent several days in Albany meeting with lawmakers, but this deal was quickly and quietly being forged behind closed doors. Lawmakers from both political parties were even critical of the process in which Cuomo guaranteed only one outcome would prevail.
Prior to this outrageous and undemocratic action, New York already had some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and they have proven to be failures. When each of New York’s gun laws was enacted, politicians promised it would fix the crime problem. Years later, it is clear that they did not, yet anti-gun lawmakers want more of the same laws. Gun control has not worked because criminals, by definition, do not obey the law. Like previous gun control attempts, S.2230 focuses only on law-abiding gun owners and will do nothing to address public safety or crime.
S.2230 expands the state's existing pseudo (semi-auto) "assault weapons" ban by outlawing pre-ban firearms, unless they are registered. This new state law also expands what is now considered an “assault weapon” and goes beyond the expired federal law. This statute also lowers New York's magazine capacity limit from ten rounds to seven. You can possess magazines capable of holding more than ten for one year, but you cannot sell or transfer them to anyone living in New York. State residents have one year from enactment to transfer or surrender them. Incredibly, S.2230 will also require background checks on ammunition purchases and prohibit online sales of both firearms and ammunition. It also includes universal background checks on all firearms transfers with certain exemptions for immediate family. S.2230 also requires mental health practitioners to report if someone is a threat to himself or others (without requiring an adjudication) and such person must surrender their gun. These failed gun control ideas will not address crime, but today Cuomo and his accomplices did irreparable damage to the constitutional rights of New Yorkers.
In his recent state of the state address, Cuomo made it clear that passing gun control would be the first major issue of the 2013 legislative session. He seized the opportunity to exploit tragedy and put his own personal politics ahead of sound public policy. Your governing officials resorted to deception, secrecy and procedural gamesmanship because they were too afraid to let gun owners make their voices heard. In the short time this issue was before the state Legislature, hundreds of phone calls and e-mails flooded the Capitol. The politicians might be able to sidestep gun owners now, but the next election will be a different story.
This legislation is still less than 24 hours old, and it contains many complex details and nuances that were secretly withheld from public view. NRA-ILA’s legal staff will continue to examine this new law and determine if future litigation may be appropriate. As we challenge these new laws, we will continue to report to our members, so please stay tuned.
“Freedom begins when you tell Mrs. Grundy to take a hike.”
Hey you SOB bastard Cuomonista, we got lots rotten eggs and tomatoes
[[ “But people keep electing them.”
City people elect them. That is it. But the urban vote is now swamping everything else and the dems feel the wind at their back. ]]
Everything you said is true.
But… just what are conservatives (in NY state) going to do about it?
The reality is, not much. The state just keeps getting “bluer”. As do most of the blue states.
The only avenue to change things in NY now is through the courts. If the courts aren’t sympathetic, well, that pretty much exhausts “the conventional approach”. Can’t say what could happen after that.
In the immediate years-to-come, I see the gaps between the red and the blue states growing and deepening at an accelerating pace. Expect the ever-tightening grip of “the state” to grasp harder in places like New York. And more of the same in states like Massachusetts, Illinois, Maryland and Connecticut.
The only solution that makes sense for conservatives living in these places is to get out, even if doing so comes at personal sacrifice and expense. Get out to where you have at least a chance of freedom, in a state where that notion is still embraced by the majority of the local population.
Those notions _ain’t_ embraced by the majority of New Yorkers any more. Cuomo’s gun-grab has probably increased his popularity amongst the down-staters who control the political climate there. Who cares about those upstaters?
“Too many oilies, rednecks, farmers, ranchers and freedom lovers here to ever let them stuff us into subjection. It is against the DNA.”
If I’m not mistaken the “DNA” of Texas is now roughly 40% Hispanic.
And that percentage isn’t shrinking, but is instead growing by leaps and bounds.
What you say about Texas is true, today.
But time and demographics will change Texas to Tejas, as certainly as they changed California to Mexifornia...
And perhaps.....a few well-placed pitchforks?
“That’s too bad when tar, feathers, and rope are what is needed.”
Love of country is not determined by color of skin. Let me remind you that there were both Tejanos and Gringos at the Alamo and at San Jacinto. Actually Juan Seguin was at both. He was the last rider to leave the Alamo before it fell.
I know about the composition and the history of my state. Some of that history is not written in history books but only recorded by tradition. The bonds that bind us were forged by common experiences.
Leftism is a disease that infects too many hispanics because they perceive the system is not fair to them and that the government will fix that. Of course that is part of the “Big Lie”.
My son-in-law is of hispanic origin. I could not be more proud of him if he were my own son. He is a good husband to my daughter, father to my grandson and a successful corporate lawyer. He is NOT Leftist.
Race should have no affect on who will protect and defend this nation and the state of Texas.
I don't know. I don't follow the gun cases closely, just learned about the outcome of Heller II a few days ago.
Scalia left openings big enough for a truck to drive through, when he composed the Heller decision. I didn't and don't see that case as a RKBA success. It is more of a "pivot point," and now the district and circuit courts are using it to uphold most any restriction short of outright ban on 100% of firearms.
Anyway, thinking that the courts are pro-RKBA is a grave error. The courts are hostile to the RKBA. Like you, I'd be most surprised if the circuits allowed a split on the constitutionality of banning magazines above XYZ capacity.
Our motto is “Not on our watch!”
____________________________________________________________
OK, what are they doing “On their watch”? Are they assembling their forces to march on Albany or are they still just writing strong worded letters in all CAPS?
Is this another blustering .org group that is just collecting tax free money hiding behind the 401c3 laws or are they going to do something.
We are looking for leaders not tax free .org groups.
Personally, I am sick and tired of these tax free blood sucking tax dodging leeches that point the finger at the other blood sucking tax dodging leeches.
That's not an error or a flaw, it's a feature in their book.
The GOP would give us tyranny too, but they are held in check by the morality of the citizens and the media. The Demonrats don’t have these checks and balances.
Article 265 - Penal Law - Firearms and Other Dangerous Weapons
265.02 Criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.A person is guilty of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree when: ...
(8) Such person possesses a large capacity ammunition feeding device. ...
265.10 Manufacture, transport, disposition and defacement of weapons and dangerous instruments and appliances.
3. Any person who disposes of any machine-gun, assault weapon, large capacity ammunition feeding device or firearm silencer is guilty of a class D felony.
The new law makes such possession a misdemeanor.
265.36 Unlawful possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device.It shall be unlawful for a person to knowingly possess a large capacity ammunition feeding device manufactured before September thirteenth, nineteen hundred ninety-four, and if such person lawfully possessed such large capacity feeding device before the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand thirteen which added this section, that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than ten rounds of ammunition. ...
Unlawful possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device is a class A misdemeanor.
* NB Effective March 16, 2013
A felony for a metal box? Five felonies for five metal boxes? It's a screaming outrage, it's a knife in the gut of every patriotic American who fought to defend this nation and our way of life.
We need to stop dithering around about shades of illegality in illegal laws, stop hoping that someone some day will eventually have enough money to drag every last one of 100,000 infringements across the nation up the Supreme Court steps and beg them for their pearls of wisdom on the meaning of the phrase "shall not be infringed," so that we might perhaps in 50,000 years regain the fundamental human right of Self-Defense from their Benevolent Hand.
Remember, they can't fit 80 million American gun owners in prison, even though they've started to try with Sgt. Haddad.
My impression is that most people think Haddad is an early victim of Cuomo's recent action, and pointing out that this is a longer-standing law is meant to correct that error.
I agree completely with your sentiment. The government is out of control. The courts are also complicit. I was asked to review and study Hamblen's case (Tennessee, possession of machine guns) and the court flat out ignores or radically misconstrues long-standing precedent. This is a chronic occurrence and circumstance.
I have the same sort of respect for the government that I do for the Mafia. They are scum, but they are also killers.
“The only solution that makes sense for conservatives living in these places is to get out”
Exactly correct. I live in Wisconsin which teeters on the edge between blue and red. When inner city milwaukee is motivated enough to bother to vote based on race (and the dems bus in unregistered voters from outside Wisconsin) then the state goes blue. When we have white guys running for state offices, the state can go red. We currently have a GOP governor and legislature. Our fate hinges on the city voters - fraudulent or real. I intend to move to a solidly red state in the near future as a tactical retreat. I cannot imagine living in NY. I will not enter that state or even fly through a NY airport. I never knowingly buy anything that originated in NY.
These 2012 election result maps clearly show the problem. Red and blue statewide results are actually determined by the huge blue spikes located at each city.
http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/WebGL/Election2012f.html
New York has the same problem that some other states have...cities loaded with Democrat voters that overwhelm voters in rural areas...
It adds about an hour to our 800-mile trip to visit my parents to minimize the time spent in New York, but I’m with you, I think - it’s worth it to avoid a bankrupting prosecution by corrupt cops over some piece of Albany BS we might not even know about.
That’s an awesome video.....deserves a thread of its own if one hasn’t been posted.
Yes, a vermin like Cuomo would fit right in with the crooks in Mexico. We should deport him there.
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