Stec rejects most common sense gun measures
The Front Page
Morning Update
Friday, June 10, 2022
By Ken Tingley
In the aftermath of the shooting in Buffalo, the New York State Legislature passed a series of 10 laws to “strengthen gun safety measures and ensure deadly weapons stay out of the wrong hands.”
Many have characterized the new laws as an attempt to take away guns from regular citizens. But if you look at the details, you might come to a different conclusion.
The Legislature raised the minimum age to purchase an assault rifle to 21 and outlawed the purchase of body armor by civilians. Those were the headlines.
It also did the following:
- It updated the criminal code to make “the threat of mass harm” a crime.
- It required microstamping of ammunition to help in solving shooting crimes.
- It strengthened measures to prevent those with criminal backgrounds from obtaining guns and ammo.
- It allowed more health care providers to file extreme risk protection orders.
- It strengthened regulations for high capacity ammo and feeding devices.
- It more broadly defined the term “firearm.”
At face value, most of the legislation appears to be common sense improvements to make communities safer. No one is going to lose their guns. But they do make us all a little safer.
Local Republicans Dan Stec, Jim Tedisco and Daphne Jordan voted for three of the measures, but against the seven most important ones.
The Republicans joined the Democrats in voting to establish a task force to investigate the impact of social media and violent extremism and to require social media networks “to provide and maintain mechanisms for reporting hateful conduct” on their platforms. They also agreed with the Democrats about establishing a charge of “threat of mass harm.”
Everything else they voted against.
Some of it makes me scratch my head. For instance, they all voted against microstamping of ammunition for semi-automatic pistols. This technology helps law enforcement in solving shooting crimes. Why would they be against that?
Microstamping technology imprints unique markings on the tip of a firing pin. The markings include information such as the firearm’s serial number to be stamped on to the bullet casings so law enforcement can connect bullets to the identifying information about a gun.
The three local lawmakers - in a 55-8 vote - were among just eight who voted against outlawing the sale of body armor to civilians. Honestly, who is going to go around wearing body army unless they are anticipating being shot at?
All three also voted against a measure to place more stringent requirements for tracking firearms after they are used in a crime.
They also voted against expanding the list of medical professionals who can apply for an extreme risk protection order. This is an attempt to not only head off mass shootings, but would probably be used more commonly for those who might be at risk for suicide.
This is the problem with elected officials who choose to vote their party line instead of taking a close look at the implications of these common sense laws. They should vote with their head instead of blind loyalty to their party.
Ethics board
Steve Thurston of the Foothills Business Daily last week reported last week on an interesting discussion about whether the Warren County Board of Ethics should be holding open meetings.
There was a discussion between the lawyers and board members about whether that was appropriate and hinder the board’s ultimate mission.
By the end of the discussion, it was not decided if the board could hold its discussion in private or not. They tabled the discussion.
Americade back
I don’t think I’ve ever met a local person who said they love Americade this time of year. Most of us prefer our peace and quiet.
Sure, we all know that Americade helps local businesses, but the reality is that it is not the economic force that it used to be . That’s what Tony Hall of the Lake George Mirror told David Sommerstein of North Country Public Radio earlier this week.
Hall points out that the Americaders of years past are simply older or no longer ride motorcycles. He acknowledges that locals put up with Americade in the past because it was the biggest Lake George event of the season.
“I don’t think that is true anymore,” Hall said.
Thankfully, it still only lasts one week.
Summer read
If you are looking for a great summer read, I hope you will consider my collection of columns “The Last American Editor.” You can get it locally at a variety of outlets - Ace Hardware in Queensbury, The Silo, McKernon Gallery in Hudson Falls, Chapman Museum, Rock Hill Bakehouse Bookstore.
Tweet of the Day
I wonder if the Founding Fathers knew what a cult was and how it could destroy democracy like a cancer?
Listen to the June 9 episode of On Point on National Public Radio for a sobering discussion of the reasons our current gun measures aren’t working. Follow the money.