NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO’S HATRED OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT KNOWS NO BOUNDS

PART TEN

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo hates guns, all kinds of guns. He hates them with a passion. His vehement disdain for these inanimate objects rests on the ground that, as he perceives it, they serve no legitimate or useful purpose. Guns do kill, of course. That fact isn’t to be denied. But, there is a huge difference between guns in the hands of criminals and lunatics, on the one hand, and guns in the hands of law-abiding, trained individuals, on the other—a world of difference that antigun zealots don’t seem to recognize or appreciate; or, if they do, then it is something they simply refuse to acknowledge.

Criminals and lunatics use guns to threaten life and to destroy innocent life. Law-abiding rational citizens use guns to thwart threats by criminals and lunatics, in order to protect their life and other innocent life.  

The mainstream media and antigun zealots invariably conflate the two or otherwise skirt this critical difference. Why do they do this? They do so because drawing attention to a clear and obvious difference between misuse of guns by criminals and lunatics, on the one hand, and the proper, lawful use of guns for self-defense by the law-abiding citizen, on the other hand, doesn’t fit the false and shameless narrative antigun zealots wish to convey: that no concrete difference exists between proper lawful use and improper illegal use of firearms.

According to the antigun zealots’ running narrative, the very existence of guns threaten the well-being, cohesion, and order of society; so, for them, it doesn’t matter who has them. The idea expressed through the tale spun, and constantly, tediously regurgitated for public consumption, is patently false, even if it seems superficially sound.

Firearms will invariably make their way into the hands of criminals and lunatics; and, even if that were not so, nonetheless the criminal element and lunatic fringe will always exist, threatening the life and well-being of everyone else through the use of one implement or another—be it knife, hammer, baseball bat, or anything else. It is, therefore, only with a firearm—the best means of self-defense at the disposal of the average, freedom-loving, law-abiding, American citizen—that real threats to life and safety will ever be effectively thwarted.

Not infrequently off-duty police officers, in civilian garb, have protected their own life with a firearm when confronted by a would-be assailant, when that would-be assailant is unaware his targeted victim is an armed police officer. The tables are quickly turned on the assailant. But, even if they acknowledge that police officers have, often enough, defended their own life and well-being with a firearm, when off-duty, nonetheless, they refuse to recommend similar protection for the average law-abiding civilian citizen, notwithstanding that the life of an off-duty police officer, and the life of prominent politicians and of wealthy individuals who can afford armed guards, or who have armed guards assigned to them, are treated differently and better than the rest of us.

Thus, Cuomo and other Radical Leftists refuse even so much as to acknowledge, even if grudgingly, the benefits a firearm affords the average law-abiding citizen. After all, they have a fairy tale to tell the public. And it is that the armed citizen is somehow less safe when confronted by an assailant and that society, too, is more threatened by an armed citizenry.

Removing firearms from the hands of the average, honest, rational, law-abiding American citizen is their raison d’etre. So, Cuomo and the Radical Left elements that comprise antigun groups continue their call for ever more restrictive gun laws; weaving a fable–one consistent with both the tenets of Collectivism and with their own warped political, social, and ethical view of society and of the role and place of the citizen in that society. The Second Amendment is an anathema to them. Thus, they seek no less than the eventual destruction of the Second Amendment.

It is the American citizenry, itself, that antigun zealots, like Cuomo, seek to disarm; it isn’t the criminal element and the occasional lunatic they are really intent on disarming. If Cuomo’s true aim and that of the Radical Left, pertaining to gun ownership and gun possession, remains hidden, then it is hidden in plain view.

Denying criminals and lunatics access to guns is merely the pretext to placate the public—a make-believe tale concocted—to make the call for stringent arms control palatable to non-discerning members of the populace, even as the public is made less safe and even as that goal is wholly incompatible with the clear, import, purport, and categorical imperative of the Second Amendment—that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall never be infringed.

The plain fact of the matter is that Cuomo and other Progressives and Radical Leftists do not truly consider the Bill of Rights to be a salient component of the Constitution. Yet, the Ten Amendments, that comprise our Bill of Rights, must be taken together, as the framers intended, as one, unified whole, and an integral and critical component of the U.S. Constitution. 

Cuomo and those who agree with is political and social philosophy play with the Ten Amendments, pretending that these Ten Amendments—fundamental, primordial, bestowed on man by the Divine Creator—are, in their inception, nothing more than man-made constructions, not unlike any Congressional Statute, which they are not. But, this is the tacit assumption and fiction that informs all the policy decisions and aims of Cuomo, and of the other Radical Leftists, who hold to, and place their faith in, the tenets of Collectivism.

These Collectivists assume, WRONGLY, that the original Ten Amendments, are capable of being lawfully modified, weakened, and, in some instances, as with the Second Amendment, even abrogated, erased, altogether obliterated, on the ground, as they believe, and as they argue, albeit erroneously, and even implausibly, to the perceptive American citizen, that the Second Amendment has no context in a modern society. Yet, in the same breath, these Radical Leftists and progressive elements in our midst, claim, ingenuously, to support the Constitution.

How often have New York residents heard this third-term Governor, Cuomo, bombastically asserting that he took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, even as his actions invariably belie his words? Governor Cuomo, and others who express his sentiments, reject the Second Amendment out-of-hand—a critical component of and, in fact, one of the most important components of the Constitution, as a Free Republic would not, could not, long exist without it. Yet, Cuomo and others of his political and social persuasion couldn’t care less about the Constitution, even as they exclaim, disingenuously and hypocritically, that they do.

ANDREW CUOMO IS ABSOLUTELY APOPLECTIC ABOUT BOTH GUNS AND CIVILIAN OWNERSHIP AND POSSESSION OF GUNS

Americans must not forget that Cuomo’s obsession with guns, generally, and with civilian ownership and possession of guns, particularly, isn’t something he concocted out-of-the-blue, and it didn’t happen yesterday. Having been able to use his State, New York, as a test-bed for his radical antigun policies to play out, Cuomo’s attack on the Second Amendment commenced many years ago, on January 1, 2011, during his first term in Office. Cuomo’s agenda then took shape over time, rapidly gathering steam, during the course of his first four-year term in Office, as New York’s Governor. Let Americans be ever mindful of that.

As reported by the weblog Observer, in an article published on January 9, 2013, titled, ‘Cuomo Vows to ‘Enact the Toughest Assault Weapon Ban in the Nation, Period!’

“One of the most hotly anticipated elements of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s annual State of the State address today [to the New York Legislature, delivered on Jan 9, 2013] was his plan to enact ‘sweeping’ gun control reforms in New York. In his speech, the governor outlined a seven-point gun control plan focused on “high-capacity assault rifles” that he promised would be one of the ‘toughest’ in the nation and lead similar laws to spread beyond New York.

‘Gun violence has been on a rampage as we know firsthand and as we know painfully,’ said the governor. ‘We must stop the madness, my friends. In one word, it’s just ‘enough.’ It has been enough. We need a gun policy in this state that is reasonable, that is balanced, that is measured. . . .’ The governor outlined the items on his seven-point gun plan.

‘Number one: Enact the toughest assault weapon ban in the nation, period!’ he shouted, before ticking off his other new gun control proposals. ‘Number two, close the private sale loophole by requiring federal background checks. Number three, ban high-capacity magazines. Number four, enact tougher penalties for illegal gun use, guns in school grounds and violent gangs. Number five, keep guns from people who are mentally ill. Number six, ban direct internet sales of ammunition in New York. Number seven, create a state [National Instant Criminal Background Check System] check on all ammunition purchases.’

[To this 7 Point list, we can now add, Cuomo’s 8th Point: “On Monday, February 25, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Red Flag Bill into law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He was joined by many of his colleagues in New York State government, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to celebrate this new legislation, the first in the nation of its kind. . . .” (Source: John Jay College of Criminal Justice), Governor Andrew Cuomo predicting the rest of the country will follow New York’s lead and adopt stiffer gun laws].

‘New York State led the way on guns once before. It was the Sullivan’s law of 1911, which was the first-in-the-nation gun control law. A model law’ he explained. [But, is the Sullivan law something to be proud about, really? See, New York Post article on this subject: “The Strange Birth of New York’s Gun law,” published January 16, 2012] 

‘I know that the issue of gun control is hard. I know that it’s political. I know it’s controversial,’ the governor said, his voice rising with every word. ‘I say to you, forget the extremists! It’s simple: no one hunts with an assault rifle! No one needs 10 bullets to kill a deer! Too many innocent people have died already! End this madness now!’

By the end of the speech, the governor was shouting.” 

Cuomo never intended his antigun agenda to be confined to one State. His agenda was much more ambitious. On October 30, 2015, The New York Times exclaimed, in an article titled, “Cuomo Planning Role in National Gun Control Campaign,” that Cuomo anticipated national attention.  “ ‘The political climate is right again for action,’ ” said Mr. Cuomo, who has endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton for president. He added, ‘The appetite is there, I think, in the presidential election, especially in the Democratic primary but also in the general election.’ ”  Well, that didn’t come to pass and Governor Cuomo obviously never forgave Donald Trump for having had the audacity to win the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, and thereby dashing Cuomo’s hope of implementation of a National NY Safe Act—dashing Cuomo’s hope of adding an important feather in “Chief Cuomo’s” own headdress. See article in the weblog, “Syracuse,” posted on April 29, 2019, titled, “Cuomo to Trump on gun violence: You have done nothing but tweet.”

Don’t for a moment think that the incessant, vicious, virulent attack on the Second Amendment won’t factor as a major issue in the upcoming 2020 U.S. Presidential election, as Democrats gear up for the debates, beginning this month. It most definitely will.

Eric Swalwell and Kamala Harris, especially, have made “gun control” a salient component of their campaigns; and Cuomo will, no doubt, be cheering them on, all the way, hoping for National attention on the “gun issue,” for himself, if he is able to insinuate himself into the National Democratic Party machinery, with the aim of seeing the New York Safe Act becoming the Law of the Land.

Feeling that he has been cheated out of that goal, in 2016, with the defeat of Hillary Clinton, Cuomo is certainly looking for redemption in 2020. And, he may very well obtain it, if, God-forbid, a Democrat should defeat Trump in 2020.

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Copyright © 2018 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.