When I saw a press release this week saying that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was announcing yet another gun ban, all I could think was… oh, great. After all, after he managed to pass the so-called “New York SAFE Act” in 2013, pretty much everything having to do with firearms has been banned up to and including looking at pictures of guns on your laptop. (Okay… don’t quote me on that last part.) So what’s it going to be this time? A ban on vegetables that happen to grow in the shape of a gun? Burning all the copies of the James Clavell novel Shogun?

Well, I suppose we’re ready. Give us your best shot, Governor. (If you haven’t made that pun illegal yet.) What are we banning now? (WHAM 13 News)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he wants to take away all firearms from New Yorkers who are convicted of domestic violence crimes.

The Democrat announced the plan Wednesday as the first of the proposals he’ll unveil next month during his State of the State address that opens the 2018 legislative session.

Under Cuomo’s proposal, all guns would immediately be removed from anyone convicted of domestic violence crimes, including misdemeanors. He says his legislation would add measures aimed at keeping domestic violence perpetrators from obtaining firearms.

Whoa! Did you hear that? He wants to ban gun ownership for those convicted of domestic violence crimes… even misdemeanors. He’s really super serious, you guys.

Allow me to surprise all of our regular readers. It’s such a rare day when I happen to agree with the governor of my state about, well… anything, that it’s worth noting when it happens. I completely agree. Those convicted of crimes of domestic violence (yes… even misdemeanors) should not be allowed to have firearms. So let’s get this ball rolling, Governor, and get that bill passed. Soon we will rid the state of the scourge of…

Oh, wait. Somebody already did that. In 1997.

Perhaps someone should swing by the Governor’s mansion and let Mr. Cuomo know about a little thing commonly referred to as, “the Lautenberg Amendment.” For those in Advanced Placement class, it’s also known as 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9) – Unlawful Acts. Check out the following provisions, Mr. Cuomo and tell us if any of them sound familiar. (Emphasis added)

(g) It shall be unlawful for any person—

(8) who is subject to a court order that—

(A) was issued after a hearing of which such person received actual notice, and at which such person had an opportunity to participate;
(B) restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child; and
(C)
(i) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or
(ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; or
(9) who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence,

to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce

includesit even incluldes misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence, people with restraining orders and all the rest. It’s been illegal for the past twenty years and pretty much every gun owner I know agrees with the sensibility of those provisions.

But hey… I realize you’ve got another election coming up and are still thinking of running for President after that. I suppose you need to make it look like you’re doing something other than attending the bribery and corruption trial of one of your top aides.