A Good Week by Tom Reynolds
The past week-or-so has been very good for 2nd Amendment advocates. The Supreme Court weighed in against New York State’s / City’s draconian gun laws with their bureaucratic delays and rejections, and a true believer in 2A is the Republican / Conservative candidate for governor. On the negative side, a political opportunist who gave up her earlier gun rights’ support in order to gain political office is the Democrat candidate for governor.
On 2nd Amendment freedoms support, SCOPE rates Republican and Conservative candidate Lee Zeldin as an “A”. On a scale of A through F, Democratic candidate Kathy Hochul rates a “Z”.
With nearly all districts reporting by Wednesday morning, only about 15% of registered New York Democrats had voted for a candidate for governor, and about 17% of registered Republicans.
Lee Zeldin, beat out three other opponents and took about 44% of the Republican vote across the state, according to the Associated Press and an unofficial tally with just over two-thirds of districts reporting.
Zeldin’s a staunch Trump supporter and an unapologetically pro-life and pro-gun rights candidate, which should appeal to conservatives in the wake of back-to-back Supreme Court rulings on abortion and New York’s gun laws. He has attended the last two SCOPE Members Meetings.
In his victory speech Tuesday, Zeldin spoke of New Yorkers moving out of state, based on safety concerns. "New Yorkers don’t feel safe on our streets, on the subways and in their homes and in their places of employment."
Zeldin’s comments reflected his agreement with the Supreme Court’s decision on NYSRPA v Bruen, which emphasized that the 2nd Amendment is about self-defense. Hochul’s reaction the Supreme Court decision was to call a special session of the NY legislature to find a way around self-defense and the Supreme Court decision.
The chasm between Zeldin and Hochul on gun rights – and just about everything else - could not be more apparent.
With continued political disasters weighing down Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, pollsters are predicting a Republican wave in November. Given the stark difference in positions between the parties and the candidates, this bodes well for the 2nd Amendment. But- and it is a very big but – New York State’s 5 million gun owners will have to show up to vote, something that has not happened in the past.
By the way, the Supreme Court’s decision would not have happened if Pro 2A Donald Trump had not been President and able to appoint three Supreme Court justices. If Hillary Clinton had been elected, 2A would be on life support. On the other hand, NY Appeals Courts Justices are primarily appointees of Andrew Cuomo (You may remember him and his attitude towards 2A.) NYSRPA lost in NY State Courts in front of Cuomo appointed justices but won in front of Trump appointed justices.
After Chris Jacobs betrayed the 2nd Amendment, it cost him an almost certain reelection and he will be unemployed in January. Gun owners have the power to turn around NY State – but they have to use it on election day.
