In a New York Minute, Governor Cuomo, Dean Skelos and Shelley Silver seem to think they will have a deal on guns and penalties, and taking all the guns away from all the nuts

With a gun deal between the three men in a room almost complete, just  take a moment to look at what might really be at stake

Albany politicos are displaying an unsual degree of speed and cooperation when it comes to the present frenzy to do something in the aftermath of shootings in upstate New York and Newtown Connecticut.  Before the weekend, New York State lawmakers seemed poised to move quickly on  Governor Cuomo’s "State of the State" request for gun control legislation that would lead the nation ( See: Thomas Kaplan and Danny Hakim's  "Lawmakers in New York Move Toward New Limits on Guns," NY Times 1/9/13 [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/nyregion/cuomo-on-gun-control-and-storm-issues-in-annual-address.html] ;  Sean Sullivan's "Cuomo, Hickenlooper leading charge on state gun control measures" in Chris Cillizza's "The Fix-The Friday Line", 1/10/13 [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/01/10/cuomo-hickenlooper-leading-charge-on-state-gun-control-measures/]; Brett LoGiurato's  "Andrew Cuomo Wants To Enact The 'Toughest Assault Weapons Ban In The Nation', "  Business Indsider 1/10/13 [ http://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-cuomo-gun-control-assault-weapon-ban-new-york-election-state-2016-2013-1#ixzz2HlqSWLPv]).

Even State Senate Republicans appear to be on board; with State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos indicating last Wednesday that Republicans were having productive negotiations with Mr. Cuomo.  According to Skelos, “I think our goal is to try to get something done by the end of this week, present it to conference next week, and we’ll see where we go.”  Skelos said he is open to everything Cuomo proposed but wants it to include even more.  Skelos says that he wants to make sure the final proposal is “balanced” and for Republicans, that means tougher penalties for the illegal use of guns ( See Kenneth Lovett's "Lawmakers close to deal over Gov. Andrew Cuomo's gun-control package following State of the State address," NY Daily News, 1/9-10/13 [  http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/cuomo-calls-stricter-gun-control-laws-article-1.1236608#ixzz2HloolC4w]).

However, there may be more at stake in all this than our need for safer schools and streets as opposed to the rights of hunters, recreational shooters and the run-of the-mill paranoid gun folk.  Here's a pithy comment from a reader of the New York Times that avoids much of the heated rhetoric such as Cuomo's disingenuous, "“This is not taking away people’s guns.... It is about ending the unnecessary risk of high-capacity assault rifles....” or Skelos' "balancing"  the increased anti-gun prohibitions with "increased penalties," or the really ominous call for "police confiscation" of all guns from those deemed to be "mentally unstable":

"Michael Howitz ***   The United States of America  ***  'The posters here advocating the push for more gun control, or to remove semi-automatic guns from civilian use, don't understand the bigger picture. Government regulated gun control would strengthen the power of the government over the people. This is the opposite foundation which built this country and made it the freest, most powerful society in the world. That happened because our government was founded on principles which limited the control it has over the people. 'We the People' are what makes this country, not the government. Our founding fathers knew that too much power in the hands of their successors would likely end in tyranny, just as the British rule we fled here from. Remember, at the time, the first Americans came here because they didn't have something we have an unalienable right to, freedom of religion. That's why they granted the people the right to bear arms, so we could overthrow the government if we ever had to. The whole point was that America would continue to be a free republic where people had freedom to be whoever they want to be. So, the bigger the government gets, the MORE we have to uphold our 2nd amendment rights. The 2nd amendment is in place to protect the people FROM THE GOVERNMENT..." (  Comments,  Jan. 10, 2013 at 12:37 a.m.
 [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/nyregion/cuomo-on-gun-control-and-storm-issues-in-annual-address.html]).

Governor Andrew Cuomo may want to lead the nation in this, that or the other, and Dean Skelos might have signed-on to all that,  but where will that leave us as American Citizens at the end of the day?