“Governor Andrew Cuomo is trying to lead the nation in gun control, but he’s picked a peculiar way of doing it,” New York Times editor Andrew Rosenthal opines. [Click here.] “Mr. Cuomo negotiated in secret with a few other powerful politicians on a dog’s breakfast of legislation that got no public discussion at all and was passed by state senators who had not even read it—because they were not given a chance to do so.” Shhh. The next thing you know they’ll want to read the Constitution. “The resulting bill is hard to judge on the merits. It’s a snarl of good ideas, strange ideas and ideas that seem quite bad. While some items should figure into federal gun control legislation, Washington should not take New York as an example of how to go about this difficult business.” Ya think? He thinks . . .
Nothing about New Yorkers’ Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms, of course. Just bitching and moaning about the mental health reporting requirement. But Rosenthal’s queasiness about the bill oozes out of every pixel (or something like that).
I hope, moreover, that the authors took into account the Constitution’s rules on search and seizure – because the anti-gun-control crowd is already feeding off paranoia about confiscation . . .
Neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. Cuomo is getting ready to raid the homes of law-abiding citizens. Still, passing confusing legislation in the dead of night without public discussion is not a great way to prove that.
In other words, Rosenthal can hear the proverbial knock on the door in the middle of the night. Hey Andy, join the club.