Here, in bold, are his smarmy, self- aggrandizing remarks on the anniversary of the Sandy Hook murders. My take on them follows in normal print.
"Today marks one year since the day this nation lost 26 innocent lives, when 20 children and six teachers became the victims of senseless gun violence at Sandy Hook elementary school”
Today marks a year since the day 27 innocent people became the victims of one depraved individual, who also murdered his own mother in her bed.
“On this difficult day, the families and friends who lost loved ones at Newtown are in the prayers and thoughts of New Yorkers.”
Yes.
“The tragic shooting at Sandy Hook was a horrific wake-up call that we must act on the issue of gun violence before another child’s future is wiped away. All across the country, elected officials, parents and community leaders stood up together to call on their State and Federal governments to pass stronger laws that protect our neighborhoods from dangerous weapons.”
The tragic murders at Sandy Hook were a rare and unpredictable event, the sole responsibility for which falls squarely on the shoulders of the lone individual who perpetrated them. No motive has yet been established, and none of the medical and mental health professionals who treated the murderer, nor any of his acquaintances, noted any warning signs of his festering violence. Every law abiding gun owner in America does not deserve to be made a scapegoat because the killer’s suicide has removed him from the reach of human wrath and punishment. Most “gun violence” in this country is perpetrated by gang members and other criminals, like the perpetrator here, whose rampage last year broke many laws. Expecting that another gun law would have stopped him is simply insane.
“Here in New York, we passed the NY SAFE Act, comprised of common sense reforms to keep guns out of the hands of the dangerously mentally ill, ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and raise the penalty for killing a first responder on duty.”
Translation: Here in New York , I and my cronies used political blackmail to ram through the New York SAFE Act in the dead of night, bypassing the public comment period required under the New York Constitution, for political expediency’s sake, rather than any true exigency, since most of its provisions did not go into effect for months (or , in several cases, even more than a year) later. Had this legislation been proffered in the usual manner, I could never have gotten it passed over the public outcry against it. More than 80 percent of the counties in New York have called for its repeal and it is the subject of several lawsuits seeking to have it thrown out as unconstitutional. My new definition of assault weapon, based on purely cosmetic features, results in a taking of previously legally acquired property, since gun owners can not pass on their arms to their heirs; their valuable and expensive property must must be surrendered to the State at their deaths, so that it can be destroyed. No compensation is given for this taking of private property by the state under the SAFE Act.
Perhaps most ludicrously, a pistol that weighs over 50 ounces, previously legally owned and registered on a law abiding gun owner's permit, is now deemed an assault rifle and subject to confiscation on the owner's death.
Common sense? Reasonable?
No. Arbitrary, capricious, and ridiculous to anyone who understands firearms, including much of the New York law enforcement community, who were not consulted on the provisions of King Cuomo's draconian new laws.
“New York is proud to be home to some of the strongest gun laws in the nation. There is no better way to honor the memories of those we lost at Newtown than to make sure they did not die in vain and work together to pass long overdue gun laws to make this whole country safer.”
Translation: A small proportion of down-staters, especially New York City progressives, who have been denied the use of arms by that city’s draconian licensing scheme for decades, and, thus, have no appreciation of their utility and popularity in most of the rest of the state, are ecstatic to have “done something” to assuage their horror over the Sandy Hook murders, even though the New York SAFE Act does nothing to prevent a future similar crime, as it focuses almost exclusively on law abiding citizens. Doing something to combat actual criminals is too hard, so we chose to violate the rights of thousands of decent citizens, because we thought that, since they are, by definition, law abiding, they would just go along with our opportunistic civilian disarmament scheme.
“As Washington D.C. remains at a standstill on this issue, I urge our representatives in Congress to reach across the aisle and act now because we cannot have another tragedy like Sandy Hook.”
Translation: My ego demands that the country follow in my footsteps. Validate me, America! I know better than you! I should be able to make life and death decisions for you. I (and others of the elite Political Class) should be able to tell you how to live, peasants. Bow to the will of your betters.
Um, no. I don't think so, Andy. I am a citizen, not a subject. You and your ilk have turned me, and a host of my fellow self reliant, liberty oriented peers, into single issue voters.
FUAC.
