In Senate GOP, some early pushback on guns


Cuomo explained his ban by noting that no one needs a semi-automatic assault rifle to kill a deer. And that no one needs a clip with more than 10 rounds to kill a deer.

“The Governor’s comments that ‘no one needs 10 bullets to kill a deer’ illustrate a basic lack of understanding and respect for our Second Amendment,” said Sen. Greg Ball, a Putnam County Republican. “The Constitution doesn’t simply apply during deer season and it wasn’t just created for hunters. While I will do everything I can to partner and protect our communities, we must be honest and take a real look at our state’s mental health services, where violent, mentally unstable souls are failed by a kangaroo system daily. The Governor may choose to play politics on this one, and I know the polls are on his side, but if he really wants to save lives, he needs to focus on illegal guns, keeping firearms out of the hands of violent criminals and surgically examine the state’s handling of the violent and mentally unstable, who are sadly falling through the cracks every single day.”

Sen. Kathy Marchione, R-Halfmoon, was a little less drastic, but said the measures Cuomo is talking about — including background checks for people buying ammunition — unfairly hurt law-abiding gun owners.


The official line from Republican Conference Leader Dean Skelos is that “conversations” with the governor and Assembly regarding the issue are ongoing, including proposals that might broaden the definition of banned assault weapons.

  1. Albany Resident says:

    This is the progressive’s way of diverting our attention from the real subject. Firearms in the hands of the citizenry under constitutional protection are there to keep the tyranny of government at bay. The Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting and everything to do with controlling government. Any individual that trusts, implicitly, the government, whether that government is the village or federal, either just doesn’t care or is simply not paying attention. Liberal/Progressivism is a cancer to any democracy, it slowly consumes and morphs inalienable rights into criminal activity, where then, the common man has become the enemy of the state.

  2. twopondsnorth says:

    Wow, Kathy! SO who wrote your press release? Once again you go half-cocked, not realizing that “While I have yet to see specific details…” means that you have no clue what you’re carping about, just that you need to stand for something. And the mandates for stricter laws? Don’t bother tracking her… she’s just a balloon that wasn’t tied too tightly.

  3. Tom Mariner says:

    Senator Dean Skelos and the Governor — two of my favorite public servants / politicians. I have strong opinions on the gun matter in two directions, but am happy that we have elected officials who will calmly and intelligently address the issue highlighted by the tragedy of those 20 kids.

    In contrast, I might add, to the methods being employed by the Vice President which has the lack of intelligence, sanity, and excess of hyperbole and “show business” demonstrated during his VP Campaign “Debate”.

    A good example of why the Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution demanded that all powers not specifically enumerated in the Constitution be reserved for the states. I trust my State’s officials!

  4. T. Wayne Lucas III says:

    Kathy’s PR looks fine to me. So here we go with CARPING about her for the next “x” number of years…

  5. How does a Seven Round limit on magazines owned by licensed pistol owners make us safer?
    All it does is render many LEGALLY owned guns useless.

  6. Sam says:

    Please explain how any of the Governor’s gun control proposals would have stopped the Newtown massacre or the West Webster shooting. All I see are more restrictions and hoops (& I’m sure fees) for law abiding gun owners. This is not a solution let alone a balanced approach. But that’s not what Democrats are after now is it? Opposing points of view in NY = extremist no matter what the issue. Sad.

  7. jakester says:

    twoponds… I understand what she’s saying, apparently in reaction to Cuomo’s SPEECH, because after all there’s no bill as of now…
    but it’ll probably be just like the Obama care debacle when Pelosi quipped, we’ll have to pass it to see what’s in it… no thank you very much.

    We ALREADY have the toughest gun laws in this state, how’s that working out for citizens of gang infested Troy, Albany, Schedectady much less NYC ???

    What is Cuomo proposing, making super, double dog, special deluxe gun laws that are impossible to circumvent thereby miraculously protecting all from the criminally insane? Yeah, oaky.

  8. floydianslip says:


    Yes, ending child labor and building the middle-class was a malignant pursuit.

  9. A liberal teacher says:

    What will any of Cuomo’s “wish-list” do to protect scholls or reduce gun violence? – Nothing.

    My suggestions are:

    1. Eliminate gun-free zones, as a mere sign does nothing to prevent violence. Train and enable teachers for concealed carry of firearms in school, and let anyone with a concealed carry permit to carry. Change schools from soft targets (where criminals are safe) to hard targets to discourage future attacks and, at the very least, to minimize loss of life in any future attack.

    2. Adopt legislation that prevents the media (TV, radio, etc.) from publisizing, disclosing or displaying the name or photo of any shooter in a mass shooting. We need to stop making the shooters famous, which encourages copycat attacks.

    The above two steps would greatly reduce gun violence.

  10. dtrain says:

    Albany Res,

    How are you proposing to keep “government tyranny at bay”? Armed insurrection? Mobilize the “militia” against the U.s. Government. Please explain.

    Also, please explain why non-law enforcement individuals need semi-automatic military style rifles and high capacity magazines? Of course banning these items won’t solve our gun violence problem, but it may make it somewhat more difficult to purchase these weapons, which can only help reduce the Aurora, Columbine, Arizona, Newtown type of mass slaughters.

  11. jakester says:

    Floyd…Building a middle class, really? Been nothing but tearing it down for years… as for the child, they are encouraging cradle to grave entitlements. I don’t see ANY child labor, but I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t ONLY liberals who opposed child labor, which began it’s decline in the 1880′s…

  12. Claire says:

    Well, the yahoos wanted Kathy Marchione and they got her. Now the rest of us have to live with her and her simplistic right-wing bumper-sticker ideology. Up with Guns! Down with Gays!

    I’m so tired of these people deliberately misreading the Second Amendment in absolutist terms and assuming that they know what was in the mind of the framers etc. These are the very same people, like Scalia, who pride themselves in being “strict constructionists” and don’t believe in a living, evolving Constitution. Well guys, by your own standard, that entitles you to own a flintlock and a powder horn not a Bushmaster.

    BTW, I’m a gun owner too and I have absolutely no problem with thorough background checks, waiting periods, assault weapon bans, and bans on high capacity ammo clips. I think we are about to find out that a substantial majority in this country feels that way too, despite the endless bullying of the NRA.

  13. Informed says:

    I spoke with Kathy Marchiones office yesterday. Her secretary said the phone is ringing off the hook, and only 1 person in two days has said they want stronger gun laws. Don’t believe everything you see on TV. This whole gun grabbing scheme is a well funded effort by Mike Bloomberg to get people to believe that Americans have changed there beliefs on gun control. If that was true, why does a popular manufacturer (magpul)of AR15 30rd magazines have over 1 million pieces on backorder? And that is only one of many makers.
    Gallup released a poll taken a week after the newtown shooting, and the change in gun control support was minimal at best. Just look at the Saratoga arms show petition. The news was happy to show the hysteric nurse from Saratoga hospital with her list. What they “forgot” to mention is the opposite petition with far more signatures.
    Just like after any incident, the hysteric screamers will fade away, but gun owners never, ever, ever forget.

  14. Dennis says:


    our forefathers created the middle class. their war with the queen ended the (poor) peasants and the (rich) royality only classes. they created a system where you can own property and work for what you want. If you work hard enough, you can be middle class or rich. Thats something that wasnt allowed before our country. Take a world history class bud.

  15. nick c says:

    Knee-jerk reactions on the extremes are what bogs down any rational conversation about gun laws. On one end, you have people who basically seem to want all weapons banned, and on the other side you have folks who are fearful of having their guns taken away altogether. Nothing is further from the truth – either way. What didn’t you understand when Cuomo said “We are not going to take people’s guns away.”? “We are not against hunters or sportsmen.”? This is simply about limiting the ability to purchase military-type weaponry that can accommodate clips of more than 10 bullets. Period.

  16. Sam says:

    @A liberal teacher – I agree with both points & especially #2. What is the media thinking? I cringe everytime I hear them report the fatality number and say “the largest number killed by one person to date”. Don’t the syee how that’s just daring the next unhinged moron to beat that number?

  17. Sherman K. Wisely says:

    If the GOP wont drawn the line on gun control issues and wont protect our most basic fundamental rights, gun owners may as well have NO allegiance to Republicans or Democrats. Maybe key members of the Senate should form the Independent Republican Conference and focus on the preservation of the bill of rights.

  18. Walt says:

    I rarely find myseld agreeing with a Liberal, but wnat @ A Liberal Teacher I find myseld agreeing with. The Conn. school killer wouldn’t have been able to so easily gain entrance to the school had the doors been hardened. Doors with windows are useless when all you need to do is take 5 seconds to breal them. They do make better securityy doors that have glas with reinforced wiring inside so it would take a lot more time to gain entry. Even one extra minute would have given enoughwrning to save most of those lives. The state needs to invest in hardening security at highly vulnerable targets and also reverse the menatl health pl;oicies of mario Cuomo when he closed down all the state mental hospitals and threw all those sick people onto the streets.

  19. InsideOut says:

    There is no reason for these mass weapons of death to be available anywhere in this country outside of a secure, licensed facility for target shooting practice and sport. The rest of you nut jobs live in some fantasy land where you need massive firepower to take down an invasion of your home. Give me a break. Guns overwhelmingly hurt and kill their owners, their relatives, their spouses or their employers. And 9 times out of 10, the shooter was a “law-abiding citizen” before they blew up.

    Wish you all could admit reality and work with us to reduce the easy availability of these types of guns to everybody. We are out of control. I am pretty sure there are worse atrocities to come. When will you start to see that is not acceptable? Blaming lack of enforcement is a cop-out.

  20. PayingAttention says:

    Thank you Senator Marchione for defending the second amendment and the rights of people to buy ammunition and to possess arms.

    TwoPondsNorth: focus on the issue. This is not about Senator Marchione it is about a massive gun grab and removing from we the people the ability to purchase ammunition.

  21. Dale Gribble says:

    Where in the 2nd amendment does it mention 10 bullets, or killing dear!

    Mr Ball appears to be taking a progressive interpretiation of the 2nd amendment!

  22. EriK says:

    child flipping labor? How long ago was that? Arguably, 100 or 80 years ago (a time when progressives were mostly eugenists). What do the progressives stand for now?

    The middle class was not built by progressives, who as you know disguised themselves as liberals after progressivism fell out of favor.

  23. GUN OWNER says:

    A Liberal Teacher, well said, I’m glad at least some on your side of the fence are level headed.

  24. GUN OWNER says:

    HEY Cuomo, your right I don’t need a semi-automatic to hunt deer! I need a semi-auto to protect my person and property from the thugs you cultivate in your prisons before releasing them. Or possibly from a tyrannical gov’t like the one you are trying to build. If you think any law but stiffer penalties is going to stop crime maybe you should read some statistics rather than infringing on my constitutional rights. AND STOP CAMPAIGNING THREE AND A HALF YEARS TOO EARLY.

  25. John W says:

    I read the gun control bills the Governor wants to pass and the language is terrifying to me as a law-abiding firearm owner!

    How can you possibly pass a law that would turn fathers wanting to protect their kids into felons? That’s right: his new “assault weapon ban” definition is so broad, that it incorporates most firearms in common use and would make me a felon if I don’t turn in my lawfully owned firearms and any preban magazines.

    I’ve spent my lifetime obeying the law and now the Governor wants to turn me into a felon with the stroke of his pen. Unreal.

  26. DAVID C says:

    Thank the Lord there are some politicians that understand the 2nd amendment and the need to deal with the real problems. Cuomos proposal on gun control is a smokescreen. Make it look like he is doing something when in actuality it is not solving anything but infringing on law abiding citizens. Start blaming the criminal, not the tool used. FBI statistics show more people are killed with a hammer than with a gun of any kind, yet there is no call to ban hammers.

  27. @ #21 – Dale Gribble. Hope you meant “deer” and not “dear”.

    Any body see yesterdays story….”Fla. clerk’s gun beats thiefs cattle prod”

  28. The time is now,if there is an issue one has with any of the Governors proposal speak now or forever hold your peace! Lets not pull a “Pelosi”. Duh, we have to pass it to see what’s in it! What a dolt. How does she keep getting elected?

    I keep hearing that the Governor wants to ban mail order sale of ammo. How about ammunition components for reloading, bullets, powder, primers cases all currently legal to be shipped through the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, and Fed Ex. What purpose does banning ordering ammunition through the mail have to do with stopping gun violence? Fortunately the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 reformed alot of the gun right abuses created in the 1968 Gun Control Act. One of these reforms was the legalization of ammunition shipments through the U.S. Postal Service. Obviously any legislation proposed by the Governor to ban shipment of ammunition to New York through the U. S. Postal Service would be deemed un-constitional.

  29. JAK says:

    January 10, 2013, 12:54 PM
    Albany Res,


    This question miss informs people you are talking about two separate firearms.
    Right now in NY civilians can own a semi-automatic variance of a M-16.
    It is illegal for civilians to own a M-4 which is one of the military platforms used by law enforcement, which has a selector on it to go from semi-automatic to three round burst, or semi-automatic to full auto.

  30. Crusher says:

    Where in the 1st amendment does it mention not yelling “fire” in a crowded theater? No rights in this country are absolute…they may be rstrained by government on a rational basis. That does not mean you are being deprived of your liberty. Soon gun nuts will assert a right to kill. Where does this notion that you have a right to possess a gun to oppose gevenrment tyranny come from…Tim Mc Veigh? He was the last American to slaugher young children in large numbers…in the name of opposing tyranny. WOW

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