The Sunday, January 6th post, “OH NO! IT HAPPENED AGAIN.......” (about Jerry Kassar’s failure to properly address the gun control issue in his “Common Sense” column); and the Saturday, January 5th post, “The Brooklyn GOP and the NRA........” ( about Gene Beradelli and Russell Gallo’s prospective friendly interview of NRA President David Keene) must be updated so as to alert the operators of the Brooklyn GOP’s and Conservative Party’s flak-ing hack operations to be ready to explain away the now much-expected GOP NYS Senate cave-in on gun control in New York State.
It’s been reported by Ken Lovett of the Daily Politics blog and the Daily News that “In the back and forth ‘flash point’ between Senate Republicans and Assembly Democrats over guns, a top aide to Gov. Cuomo weighed in to say, yes, the Assembly Dems are open to tougher criminal penalties as part of a gun control package.... Cuomo would love to announce a [gun control] deal at his State of the State address Wednesday, if one can be reached in time.” (See “Aide To Gov. Cuomo Says Assembly Democrats Open To Tougher Gun Penalties” by Ken Lovett, 1/7/13 Daily News/Daily Politics [http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics] ).
Mr. Lovett describes a lot of the behind the scenes horse trading and sausage making that according to his sources is going on as all sides (The Governor, Republicans in the State Senate and Democrats in the Assembly) weigh-in on a New York State gun control bill to be passed in the immediate aftermath of the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut and Webster, New York. It doesn’t take a lot of reading between the lines to see that the Republicans in the NYS Senate are ready to completely cave-in to the forces of gun control frenzy in New York State.
Maybe Berardelli and Gallo can get Brooklyn GOP State Senator Martin Golden to show up on their January 9th Brooklyn GOP blog-talk radio show to appear along with the NRA president to explain the who, what, when, why and how of future gun control in New York State; and whether there will be any meaningful gun rights in New York after all is said and done. Gene and Russ might also get them to discuss whether they think there might be a price to be paid by those who didn’t stand up for the gun rights of New York State residents.
On second thought, there's no need to give Kassar this update at all. As State Senator Golden's Chief of Staff, Kassar is already somewhat involved in all of the "horse trading and sausage making" on this gun control deal. As to what he might write in his Home Reporter- Spectator column about the "deal" and the gun control debate in New York --- he should just say, "There never was any meaningful debate...just a political deal that worked for everybody who mattered"
UPDATE: Sources close to the Governor and the Assembly Speaker himself indicate a deal on a sweeping New York State Gun Control Bill is near.
ReplyDeleteAccording to CBS at around midnight, January 8-9, sources in the NYS Governor’s office have indicated that a gun control deal involving the Governor, the Senate and the Assembly is very close (see “EXCLUSIVE: Cuomo Close To Announcing Sweeping New Gun Control Laws – Governor Working On Deal That Would Go After Assault Weapons, Magazines” [http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/01/08/exclusive-cuomo-close-to-announcing-sweeping-new-gun-control-laws/] ). CBS 2's reports that late Tuesday night a Cuomo spokesman said that the sides still hadn’t reached an agreement, but CBS’ Marcia Kramer indicates there is talk of keeping the Legislature in session for the rest of the week to be sure that the deal gets done.
Earlier in the evening Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver talking about a sweeping gun control bill said, “I think it is achievable.... There will be further meetings this evening, and we’ll see where we are.... I think we will come up with a reasonable definition (of assault weapons) and a reasonable closing of loopholes." (Reported by Celeste Katz’ in her post “Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver On The Way Of The Gun (Control Legislation),” 1/7/13 Daily Politics Blog
[http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/01/assembly-speaker-sheldon-silver-on-the-way-of-the-gun-control-legislation]).