In predictable fashion, New York Governor Kathy Hochul is following the old rule about never letting a crisis go to waste. Following the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York this weekend that left ten people dead, Hochul announced that she is in the process of signing a “strict series” of executive orders related to gun control measures. The full text of the orders has not been released yet, but the description of these orders should be setting off some alarms. New York State passed a so-called “red flag” law in 2019 and these orders apparently play off of that legislation, expanding the state’s ability to preemptively seize firearms from lawful owners and “monitor online extremism.” (National Review)

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced a strict series of gun control regulations, days after a racially motivated shooting in Buffalo that killed ten people.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Hochul said that she would sign several executive orders to restrict access to firearms and monitor “online extremism.”

These include a measure authorizing the New York State Police to seize weapons from any gun owner “whenever they have probable cause to believe that an individual is a threat to themselves or others.” She did not give further details about the proposal, and the text of the order, yet to be signed, has not been released. However, she announced it would draw on authority conferred by the state’s “Red Flag Law” passed in 2019, which allows law enforcement to seize weapons when a court issues an Extreme Risk Protection Order against an individual.

Hochul also announced a new ‘Office of Counterterrorism’ to be formed within the state police department. The new office will borrow some language from Joe Biden and congressional Democrats, focusing primarily on “domestic terrorism.” It will be tasked with monitoring online activity for signs of “violent tendencies and extremist ideology.”

She has already dragged State District Attorney Letitia James into the process to monitor social media companies and ensure that they are stomping out any signs of “extremism” or “white supremacy.” James followed up with an announcement of her own, saying that Twitch, 4chan, 8chan, and Discord are all now “under investigation.”

Hochul will be attempting even more, including a new bill intended to force all handguns sold in New York to include cost-prohibitive “microstamping” technology that imprints a unique mark on shell casings when the weapon is discharged. This is a liberal workaround to effectively ban most handgun sales by making the firearms unaffordable.

All of this is being done because Payton Gendron shot up a grocery store in Buffalo. Unfortunately, Democrats pile on incidents like this one because Gendron was one of the rare cases where a legally purchased and owned firearm was used in a mass shooting. The vast majority of such incidents are committed using stolen, black market handguns. Also, Gendron likely shouldn’t have been allowed to purchase a firearm because of an incident the previous year where he had “joked” about wanting to commit a mass shooting and suicide and had been placed under mental health observation for 24 hours. The fact that his background check didn’t turn that up adds further momentum to liberals to try to gin up the red flag laws.

As I’ve written in the past, I’m not entirely opposed to red flag laws, but they need to be implemented with great care and monitored closely when they are used. Such laws are simply far too open to abuse, allowing people to make false claims that result in a situation where a lawful gun owner’s firearms are confiscated. They can then face months or years of legal battles to have their property returned while not having committed any crime. It doesn’t sound as if Kathy Hochul is interested in any such protections or restrictions.

The moment the news about the shooting in Buffalo broke we should have known that something like this was coming. And right on cue, Kathy Hochul stepped up to play her role for the gun confiscation crowd.