New York Gov. Kathy Hochul hasn't really hidden her feelings on guns, gun rights, and gun control. I can at least respect this, even if I disagree with everything that comes out of her mouth, including the punctuation marks. She believes the righteous action is to restrict things like 3D printers and what people can print on them, among other things, and while I still disagree, she has a God-given right to be wrong.
But there's a question about how this was passed.
See, it's one thing to introduce a bill, debate it, and pass it. It's another to try some sneaky crap in hopes that it'll get more votes than it might otherwise have, while skipping the debate almost entirely, and that's precisely what Hochul did.
Hochul said as firearm technology continues to evolve, the new regulations would help the state uphold its "strongest-in-the-nation" gun control laws and continue its progress reducing gun violence.
But the National Rifle Association called the new restrictions "unconstitutional" and criticized Hochul and Democratic lawmakers for pushing the bill through as part of the state's must-pass budget.
"This was a strategic and calculated procedural move to put divisive legislation into an all-or-nothing budget bill," the NRA said. "Despite having a trifecta of control, Majority Democrats needed over a dozen extenders after missing their April 1 budget deadline."
The NRA called the restrictions a "brazen ban" on an entire class of firearms and 3D printing devices, pointing to vague language in the bill banning “convertible pistols.”
"This move creates a ban on an entire class of commonly-owned handguns, any gun with a “cruciform trigger bar," the group said. "These guns are banned whether or not a conversion device is actually installed or even possessed."
Now, I'm not going to pretend that the gun rights side didn't do the same thing with the NFA tax stamps' elimination in the One Big, Beautiful Bill. That was a budget bill, and pro-gun lawmakers put pro-gun legislation in there so it would be voted on. It also has a long history of both sides doing stuff like this. Let's not forget that the reason people haven't been able to get their gun rights restored was because of a budget provision that defunded the ATF department that did it.
I don't like it in the least. I hate silly little legislative games regardless of which side does them. I'm just realistic enough to recognize that people like Hochul will do it so we might as well use whatever weapons we have at our disposal.
What's interesting to me, though, is that as the NRA pointed out, Democrats have triple control over the state. They've got absolute control with a supermajority in both chambers of the legislature, and Hochul and her allies still had to work this into a budget bill rather than have an actual debate over this particular measure independently.
Fascinating, don't you think?
Of course, considering just how terrible this law actually is, Hochul deserves a lot more heat than she's going to feel. At least, not until this gets to court.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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