‘While the federal government turns its back on gun violence and prevention, we’re committed to preventing tragedies and saving lives…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) From late-term abortions to resisting federal immigration authorities to trying to force the release of President Donald Trump’s state taxes, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been on the forefront recently of passing spiteful legislation to make a point to the White House.
Cuomo’s latest grandstanding spectacle was a law that would prevent schools in the state from arming teachers, even though none were clamoring to do so.
In the wake of a California shooting that left three victims dead at a garlic festival, Cuomo’s effort rather seemed a pre-emptive bid to defuse any practical solutions to gun violence that did not fall in line with his far left agenda: a de facto repeal of the Second Amendment.
“The answer to the gun violence epidemic plaguing this country has never been and never will be more guns,” Cuomo said in a statement released Wednesday by his office, “and today we’re expanding New York’s nation-leading gun safety laws to further protect our children.”
In addition to preventing teachers from arming to protect their classrooms, Cuomo touted a second piece of legislation that would establish state police procedures for “the Safe Removal of Illegal, Unsecured, Abandoned or Unwanted Firearms,” intended to uniformly regulate gun-buyback programs throughout the state.
The bills take effect immediately.
“These measures will help slow the proliferation of guns by keeping unneeded firearms out of school zones and helping to ensure unwanted or illegal guns don’t fall into dangerous hands,” Cuomo said.
In a companion statement, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul got more to the point.
“While the federal government turns its back on gun violence and prevention, we’re committed to preventing tragedies and saving lives,” she said.
The pair of laws follow three earlier anti-gun laws signed this year, including a controversial “red flag” law that authorizes authorities to confiscate the weapons of anyone they deem to “show signs of being a threat to themselves or others.”
Critics have expressed alarm that the vague and subjective phrasing could offer a blanket protection for corrupt authorities to violate the constitutional rights of citizens.
Cuomo’s other laws extended the waiting period for background checks, reinforced a federal ban on bumpstocks enacted last year by Trump, banned “undetectable” guns (such as those made from plastic using 3-d printers) and imposed new requirements on the safe storage of firearms.
The regulations are all part of what Cuomo has labeled his “Justice Agenda” in the first 100 days of the state’s legislative session. An accompanying slogan says “No time to wait.”
Not all of the Empire State’s aggressive anti-gun laws have been successful.
In May, fearing that the Supreme Court would overturn a law that attempted to limit licensed gun owners from taking their guns outside the city, officials scrambled at the last minute to repeal the law in order to render moot an unfavorable decision.