Advisory opinion urges releasing FOIL request information
By Casey Seiler, October 4, 2014

Albany

In an advisory opinion issued Friday, the state Committee on Open Government says the State Police should not deny Freedom of Information Law requests seeking “aggregate” data such as the number of assault weapons that have been registered under the provisions of the NY SAFE Act.

State Police officials have for almost a year refused to release any data about the number of weapons registered under the controversial gun control law.

They have consistently pointed to a little-known clause tucked into the speedily passed law that renders registration information contained in the state’s databank confidential: “Records assembled or collected for purposes of inclusion in such (a) database shall not be subject to disclosure,” the law reads.

To the derision of anti-NY SAFE activists and transparency advocates, the State Police has held that the statute covers any data derived from those records, as well. Critics say that the policy prevents New Yorkers from assessing the effectiveness of the registration law.

“Those records you seek are derived from information collected for the State Police database and are, therefore, exempt from disclosure,” State Police spokeswoman Darcy Wells said last November in response to a FOIL request from the Times Union, one of numerous media outlets that have sought the data.
COOG’s new advisory opinion, written by Assistant Director Camille S. Jobin-Davis, disagrees with that policy.

The NY SAFE Act clearly “makes application records assembled or collected and maintained by the State Police confidential,” the letter states. “There is no exception indicated, however, for data derived from those records. Specifically, there is no indication that aggregate data or that which can be derived from the collected records is protected.”

The letter says that the clear legislative intent of the confidentiality protections afforded under the NY SAFE Act was to shield the permit holder from potential danger or harassment. Aggregate data — such as the raw number of weapons registered — wouldn’t compromise that mission.

“In our opinion,” the four-page letter concludes, “none of the discretionary exceptions appearing in 87(2) of the Freedom of Information Law would permit the State Police to deny access to aggregate data regarding firearm and assault weapons permits reported without identification of individual applicants. On the contrary, we believe that data of that nature must be disclosed pursuant to [the provision of FOIL] which specifies that ‘statistical or factual tabulations or data’ contained within internal agency records be disclosed. Accordingly, it is our opinion that such non-identifying data is required to be disclosed upon request.”

Robert Freeman, the executive director of COOG, has been offering essentially the same opinion since the initial rejections of FOIL requests from the Times Union and other media outlets.
The opinion does not compel the State Police to release the data, Freeman said in an interview on Saturday morning.

“The hope is that (COOG’s) opinions are educational and persuasive, and encourage adherence to the law,” Freeman said.

The letter was copied to the State Police’s records access officer. A spokeswoman for the force did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

The NY SAFE Act — which was introduced, passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in less that 24 hours in January 2013 — also allowed firearms permit holders to make their data exempt from FOIL by filling out a simple application.

Willie Colón with Rob Astorino. (Photo: Astorino Campaign)

By Ross Barkan | 09/26/14 9:31am New York Observer

Rob Astorino is ready to dance the salsa.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate, still far behind Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the polls, picked up the endorsement of salsa musician and activist Willie Colón this morning. Mr. Colón, who endorsed moderate Democrat Bill Thompson in last year’s mayoral race, said the “Latino vote is a joke” and urged his fellow countrymen to stop automatically backing Democrats.

“We vote and work to get our Democratic candidate elected and after they win. They forget their promises. There is little or no access. Trying to meet with them is like having an audience with the Pope. Probably easier with his holiness,” Mr. Colón, who is a Democrat, said in a statement.

“Why? Because the Latino vote is a joke. Democrats know we don’t even think about swinging to the other candidate. That’s out of the question because it’s evil; because you’re a traitor if you vote for the Republican,” he continued. “So, no matter how bad the Democrat is, even if he’s going to jail; we still have to vote for them.”

Mr. Colón said he personally likes Mr. Astorino, the Westchester County executive and a fluent Spanish speaker, and praised him for not hailing from a “royal family or political dynasty,” a reference Mr. Cuomo’s father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo.

“Rob Astorino doesn’t come from a royal family or political dynasty. He doesn’t think his family was born to rule,” Mr. Colon said. “I met him last year and he came across as a sane, humble, confident man. He didn’t just realize a couple of months ago that he needed to speak Spanish to get votes!”

Mr. Colón, like Mr. Astorino, is not often enamored with the political left. He fought on Twitter with the late Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, a socialist reviled by the American government but loved by many leftists.

Mr. Colón is one Mr. Astorino’s few prominent endorsers. Mr. Cuomo, who has raised more than $30 million and flooded the airwaves with advertisements, is running with the backing of most major labor unions and elected officials like Mayor Bill de Blasio.

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Posted by Bob Owens on September 23, 2014 at 3:37 pm BearingArms.com

One definition of tyranny is arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power.

New Yorkers, you live under tyranny:

An anti-violence activist caught carrying a firearm into an elementary school in February has been given a conditional discharge.

A judge says if Dwayne Ferguson completes 100 hours of community service and stays out of trouble, he will not face more serious charges possessing a firearm on schools grounds.

Last February, Ferguson sparked a scare at Harvey Austin Elementary School (Buffalo, NY) when a man noticed his weapon and called police. Students were held on lockdown for around three hours while police swept the school. It was during a second search that Ferguson was found with a weapon.

We noted at the time of his arrest that:

These activists can’t seem to get it through their thick skulls that the restrictive laws they champion have zero effect on the criminal behavior of career criminals and gang-bangers that are responsible for the vast majority of gun crime, but only affect good a decent people like Dwayne Ferguson always imagined himself to be.

Sadly, the only thing that Ferguson learned from his experience was that those who do the bidding of those who make the rules are all too often exempt from those rules.

Bob Owens is the Editor of BearingArms.com. A long-time shooting enthusiast, he began blogging as a North Carolina native in New York at the politics-focused Confederate Yankee in 2004. In 2007 Bob began writing about firearms, gun rights, and crime at Pajamas Media, and added gun and gear reviews for Shooting Illustrated in 2010. He is a volunteer in the Appleseed Project, where he shares stories of our shared American heritage and teaches traditional rifle marksmanship. He is an alumni of Gunsite Academy (250 Pistol). His personal blog is bob-owens.com, and he can be found on Twitter at bob_owens.

Added by Graham Noble on September 24, 2014.
Liberty Voice

New Jersey – along with its neighbor-state, New York – has rapidly become ground zero for the trampling of constitutional rights and two recent gun-related incidents demonstrate the glaring double standard exercised in those states. In the first incident, a single mother of two small boys is facing the prospect of up to three and a half years in prison for unknowingly carrying a firearm in a state – New Jersey – that does not honor her Pennsylvania concealed carry permit. In the second case, a New York man gets a slap on the wrist for knowingly carrying a concealed firearm inside a public elementary school.

The double standard, in this case? The man who knowingly broke a New York gun law was none other than a vocal supporter of stricter gun control measures. It is hard not to consider the possibility that the leniency shown this man may be influenced by the politics behind the anti-gun movement. Taking the entire comparison of these two cases to an even higher level of mind-numbing hypocrisy is the fact that community activist Dwayne Ferguson – the man arrested for possession of a firearm on school property – is a long-time proponent of the hilariously titled SAFE act, a draconian and entirely unconstitutional set of gun-control measures enacted in the state of New York. As stated on The SAFE act web pages, “The new law cracks down on possession of a gun on school grounds…”

Shaneen Allen, 27, is a working single mother who lives in Philadelphia. She has no criminal record and possesses a Pennsylvania concealed-carry permit. Unaware that her permit was not honored in New Jersey, Allen is currently awaiting trial because, during a “routine” traffic stop in Atlantic City last year, she voluntarily informed a law enforcement officer that she was carrying a handgun and produced her permit for inspection. She was immediately arrested and charged with “unlawful” possession of a firearm. Allen’s trial has been delayed until October 20, at the request of Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain, who – just possibly – may have come to his senses and has decided to review the circumstances of Allen’s arrest.

Father of three Dwayne Ferguson, of Buffalo, NY, is a man who believed that the carrying of a firearm on school grounds was a crime too serious to be treated as a misdemeanor; he supported the SAFE act, which made it a felony. Apparently, however, he doesn’t believe that such laws apply to him. On February 6, 2014, Ferguson entered the city’s Harvey Austin Elementary School, carrying a concealed handgun. Ferguson works there on an after-school program – one of his many roles in the local community. He holds a concealed carry permit. It can be assumed that Ferguson is unaware of the meaning of the word “concealed” as someone at the school placed a 911 call to police, prompting a massive response from law enforcement. Initially, Ferguson – as a result of the law which he, himself, advocated – was looking at a felony gun possession charge. Instead, Judge John L. Michalek sentenced him to 100 hours of community service.

Two individuals; both legal gun-owners with permits to carry and both arrested for exercising their constitutional right. One, however, committed an offence worthy of a simple citation, if anything; yet, she faces jail time with no parole. In the other case, a man commits a serious and deliberate breach of a law which he, himself, advocated and gets off with little more than a slap on the wrist. Granted; these are two separate states, but the two cases, when compared, clearly demonstrate the glaring double standard of the anti-gun lobby – a double standard which is evident, not only in New Jersey and New York, but across the country. The very people who push for increased gun-control are the ones who believe it is fine for them to flout the law. Ferguson insists that he “forgot” he was carrying his gun. The question needs to be asked; what is the point of carrying a weapon for self-defense if one “forgets” that they are carrying it? As any trained and responsible gun-owner will testify, one does not “forget” when one is carrying a firearm; it may – and should – become second-nature, to the point where one does not consciously think about it, but one is never unaware that the firearm is there, in the holster. Thus, Ferguson’s claim of temporary ignorance demonstrated that he is either not telling the truth or that he is, clearly, not responsible enough to be carrying a gun at all.

No doubt, the two cases highlight a number of conclusions: The first, of course, is that neither one of these individuals should be facing any criminal charges; neither one actually posed a danger to anyone and both are protected by the 2nd Amendment, the supreme firearms law of the land. The second conclusion – drawing from the Shaneen Allen case – is that the entire system of reciprocity, by which different states can choose to honor – or not to honor – the validity of gun permits issued in other states, is completely unfair, unconstitutional and impractical.

One of the few legitimate duties of the federal government is to mediate disputes between states and impose federal laws, by which every state must abide. Since the 2nd Amendment is a part of the Bill of Rights and, therefore, an element of the United States Constitution, no state should have the authority to pass any law which contravenes it. In the absence of nullifying all laws requiring a law-abiding citizen to obtain any firearms permit, the federal government should impose a requirement on all states to honor any permit issued in another state.

Evan Nappen, Allen’s attorney, appears to concur and believes that reciprocity should be mandated at the federal level. “People believe that your gun license should be treated like your driver’s license.” says Nappen. “Right now, there’s a national law being proposed that would mandate that all states recognize other states licenses…I’m calling that bill Shaneen’s law.” Nappen intends to request a dismissal of the charges against Allen, when she goes on trial.

As for Dwayne Ferguson; he is, clearly, not being honest when he claims that he forgot he was carrying his gun. Evidently, he understands that the safety of our children is more certain when there are responsible, armed citizens around them. Why he, himself, supported a law which strips away that safety can only be explained by looking at the political motivations behind the push for more gun-control; those on the Left have a basic belief that government has the right to control the behavior of ordinary citizens and such control cannot be fully implemented whilst citizens possess the means to defend themselves.

New York, New Jersey, Illinois and California lead the way among anti-gun states, although several other states – all Democrat-controlled – are not far behind. The laughable double standard of the anti-gun movement, however, is that its most vocal figures continue to demonstrate that they, themselves, believe that owning and carrying a firearm is not only their right, but a necessity.

It conjures up a disturbing vision of the future, to know that one section of the population believes that they are entitled to arm themselves but that everyone else is not.

Opinion by Graham J Noble

Sources:
NBC Philadelphia
The Daily Caller
The Buffalo News
NY SAFE
The Washington Post

Jim Kouri – Examiner.com
September 14, 2014

A news story that should have — or would have — garnered more coverage by major news organizations failed to achieve its proper attention thanks to the frenzy over the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s murderous rampage, the media’s obsession with football star Ray Rice’s domestic violence story, and the media’s knee-jerk protection of a failed President Barack Obama. In fact, not one Sunday morning news show even mentioned how the Justice Department attempted to conspires with a Democrat lawmaker to allegedly sabotage the probe of the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative nonprofit organizations.

According to a letter from the House Oversight Committee’s leader Darrell Issa, R-California, a top member of Attorney General Eric Holder’s staff, Brian Fallon, is accused of accidentally telephoning House Oversight Committee chairman’s office to ask for help leaking fabricated stories about the IRS’s scrutiny of conservative groups to news outlets. Fallon allegedly thought he had telephoned the office of Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, who is also on that same committee and who has been extremely vocal on behalf of the IRS and Justice Department claiming there is no scandal.

The details in Issa’s letter are just more evidence that the Obama-Holder Justice Department’s investigation into IRS targeting is a political farse, and the Obama administration head honchos are more concerned with a political agenda and not performing their duties for the American people.

“Instead of conducting an investigation seeking the truth about allegations of the IRS targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups, the folks at Holder’s own version of a Justice Department are actually working with the Democrat lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee in order to obstruct investigations, rather than uncovering facts,” said former police detective, Jason Katz, who also served as a senior investigator for an agency that probes government and political criminal activity.

“Do those people in the news media realize we may have a Justice Department that actually obstructs justice?” Katz asked.

Issa’s accusation and Fallon’s admission appears to highlight how politically-motivated Eric Holder’s Justice Department has become. It also proves what many conservatives and libertarians have claimed: The federal government is out-of-control thanks to Obama’s accelerated attack on the U.S. Constitution, according to political consultant Mike Baker.

“The telephone call’s purpose was to help the Democrats spin the story about the IRS’s suspected criminality perpetrated to help Obama win re-election,” Baker alleges.

According to The Washington Post, a Democratic staffer from the Oversight Committee responded to Fallon’s assertion, stating, “We never received any call like this, and we never took any action. Apparently, this individual (Fallon) doesn’t know our staff that well because he didn’t know who he was talking to, and he didn’t even know the right phone number.”

Sadly, this isn’t the first time Rep. Cummings’ name popped up during the IRS probe. According to an April Examiner news story:

After Cummings and his staff pressured the IRS to go after True the Vote, the conservative group received an email message to submit information to IRS agents such as registration forms used to enlist volunteers, the group’s protocols for handing out assignments to those volunteers, training documents, and other information that is never asked from left-wing groups.

“Now we see why [Rep. Elijah] Cummings was so shrill and angry during Lois Lerner’s appearance in front of his committee. Cummings should be the one being investigated based on his politicizing the IRS in a conspiracy to silence a vocal organization,” said political strategist Mike Baker.

By Maury Thompson  9/10/14 PostStar.com

The local results of Tuesday’s Democratic primary for governor and lieutenant governor were puzzling to Warren County Democratic Chairwoman Lynne Boecher.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his lieutenant governor running mate Kathy Hochul, political moderates, won the state, but did not carry counties in the Glens Falls region, generally considered a moderate area.

Zephyr Teachout and running mate Timothy Wu, liberals from the New York City area, had the most votes in Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Essex and Hamilton counties, and many other northern New York counties, although they lost their respective primaries statewide.

“Obviously there is a disconnect and a discontent. Those are markers that must be addressed. And I am confident they will be,” Boecher said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

Boecher said she was still attempting to figure out the source of the discontent, but she did not think it was because Cuomo refused to debate Teachout or because of the SAFE Act, the controversial gun control legislation the governor championed.

“I’m disappointed, I am taking a serious look at a message that gives, as I am sure Gov. Cuomo and lieutenant governor candidate Kathy Hochul are,” she said.

Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader said even though Teachout lost, her strong showing in the Glens Falls region and her receiving about one-third of the vote statewide is a sign that change is afoot.

“I hear a rumble from the people getting under way,” said Nader, who will campaign with Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins and Green Party congressional candidate Matt Funiciello at noon Sunday at the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls.

“This is a pretty stunning performance by someone (Teachout) who had virtually no ad budget and only a couple of union endorsements — didn’t get all that much press,” Nader said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

The results of the Democratic primary have increased optimism for supporters of Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino, said Ron Jackson, regional vice chairman of the state Republican Committee.

“I think it reflects that it’s not going to be quite the runaway in November that people were predicting just a few days ago — a least upstate. Now I don’t know if upstate can make up for downstate,” he said.

Jackson suggested the SAFE Act was the major factor in the Democratic primary results locally.

“Cuomo spent a lot of time in Essex County, And he certainly spent a lot of money helping repair the infrastructure,” said Jackson, who also is Essex County Republican chairman. “And people, while I’m sure they like that, both the attention and money, they can’t get past the SAFE Act.”

“In trying to think about what happened in Saratoga (County), part of it’s got to be anti-casino backlash,” said Robert Turner, a political science professor at Skidmore College.

Turner said Cuomo’s and Hochul’s failure to carry area counties may have been because Democrats are not as organized as their New York City counterparts.

“There’s not going to be party pressure the way there is going to be downstate. And if you’re a liberal up there, you’re probably really liberal,” he said.

Local Democrats will continue emphasizing Cuomo’s economic development initiatives, his on-time budgets and his being willing to work with Republicans such as state Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury, said Boecher, the Warren County Democratic chairwoman.

“I don’t take the (primary) results lightly,” she said.

September 09, 2014

In a rare move in these partisan times, Democratic State Senate candidate, Johnny Destino, broke the goose-stepping party line and signed the SCOPE pledge to repeal the SAFE Act.

Democratic State Senate candidate Johnny Destino bucked his own party line last week and signed the Shooter’s Committee on Political Education (SCOPE) pledge to back the repeal of the New York SAFE Act, a strident gun control law pushed through the state legislature by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The SAFE Act was signed into law in January 2013, a direct response to the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut. While none of the law’s provisions is likely to prevent such tragedies in the future, the SAFE Act certainly curtails law-abiding New York gun owners’ rights in the present.

Prior to the law’s passage, New York already had some of the strictest gun laws in the United States.

Under the law, magazines capable of accepting more than 10 rounds of ammunition are banned, and anyone buying ammunition is subject to a background check, much like as if they were buying a gun.

More than 200 municipalities across the state have passed resolutions calling for the repeal of the law.

At just 54 words, the SCOPE pledge gets right to the point: “As a candidate for office in the state of New York, I pledge to support the Second Amendment and the rights of gun owners, hunters, and sportsmen in our state. I pledge to support the repeal of the NY SAFE Act and oppose any similar gun-ban legislation at the local, state, and federal level.”

Destino was unavailable for comment, but in the past has pointed out that the SAFE Act would never have passed had Republicans in the Senate including State Sen. George Maziarz, at the time the third leading Senate leader, not allowed the SAFE Act to come to a vote.

As North Tonawanda Mayor Robert Ortt, State Sen. George Maziarz’s hand-picked successor, said, “The SAFE Act was a bad law because it was rammed through in the middle of the night, before the ink was dry on the printed copies, with no debate. But it was more fundamentally a bad law because it flew in the face of the Bill of Rights.”

As Destino pointed out to the Reporter on numerous occasions, the Senate Republicans, who controlled the Senate at the time of the SAFE Act’s passage in January, 2013, had only to not permit it to go to the floor for a vote, as Democrats always do when they oppose a law.

He has a point.

The fact that the Senate Republican leadership allowed it, showed clearly they were not 2nd Amendment watchdogs. That some of these same senators cynically voted against the SAFE Act, while, at the same time, allowing the SAFE Act to come to the floor for a vote in the first place, shows the hypocrisy of these Republicans.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver would never allow a bill he disbelieves in to come to the Assembly floor for a vote.

Today, we have the SAFE Act not only because of a liberal anti-Aecond Amendment governor and an uber-liberal Manhattan-centric State Assembly, but also because Senate Republicans allowed the SAFE Act to, precisely, “go to the floor in the middle of the night, before the ink was dry on printed copies, and with no debate.”

For them to say now, the SAFE Act is an infringement of rights, is about the near height of hypocrisy.

It took all three – governor, assembly and Republican -controlled senate – to do this anti-freedom SAFE Act tango.

He’s right.

“George (Maziarz) and the Republican leadership sold out their constituents,” Destino said.

At least one Democrat, Johnny Destino, had the guts and political courage to break free from the Democrats and other constitutional hypocrites to support the SAFE Act’s repeal.

EXCLUSIVE: At least seven companies that received a total of $15.25 million in grants from state Regional Economic Development Councils are linked to $1.25 million in donations to Cuomo’s campaign treasury since 2010, the records show.

Sebastian Scheiner/APAt least seven companies that received a total of $15.25 million in grants from state Regional Economic Development Councils are linked to $1.25 million in donations to Andrew Cuomo’s campaign treasury since 2010, state records show.

ALBANY — Several companies run by big-time donors to Gov. Cuomo have won millions of dollars in state economic development grants since he took office, state records show.

At least seven companies that received a total of $15.25 million in grants from state Regional Economic Development Councils are linked to $1.25 million in donations to Cuomo’s campaign treasury since 2010, the records show.

One of those companies, Taylor Biomass LLC in Orange County, was awarded $1 million in 2013 to build a waste-to-energy facility.

Its president, James Taylor, gave Cuomo’s campaign more than $100,000 since 2010, including $34,000 this year, campaign finance records show. And the company and its affiliates gave Cuomo another $50,000, including $12,500 this year.

In another case, BFC Partners, of Brooklyn, won $3.5 million in 2013 to construct Empire Outlets, a planned development on Staten Island featuring 100 designer outlets and a posh hotel just steps from the ferry terminal.

BFC donated $25,000 to Cuomo’s campaign in 2014, the year following the grant. And three of the company’s partners, Donald Capoccia, Joseph Ferrara, and Brandon Baron, have ponied up a combined $81,500 since 2010.

New York Daily News; Photo by Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

Cuomo aides said the grants cited by the Daily News represent a fraction of the more than 2,600 projects awarded $2.2 billion in funding since2011 under the Regional Economic Development Council program.

The aides also said the governor’s office has no formal role in selecting who receives the awards. The projects, they pointed out, are recommended by the 10 regional councils, under a system Cuomo established in 2011 to create competition for the hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding distributed each year.

The Cuomo-controlled Empire State Development Corp. scores the recommendations and picks the winners, which Cuomo typically announces in a public ceremony.

Cuomo aides said the process is far better than the old “member item” system in which state legislators picked projects in their districts to fund, without much vetting. The aides also argued that some donors to the governor applied for project funding but did not receive grant money.

“To suggest any conflict or connection here is absurd as the recommendations for all of these projects are made by local community representatives,” said Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa.

In another case, BFC Partners, of Brooklyn, won $3.5 million in 2013 to construct Empire Outlets, a planned development on Staten Island featuring 100 designer outlets and a posh hotel just steps from the ferry terminal.

 

Cuomo aides said several of the companies cited by The News, including Taylor Biomass, received state and federal funding for other projects in the past. Some of the grants, they said, funded projects that already were under way before Cuomo even became governor.

In one case cited by The News, a $2 million grant for the Dover Knolls Development, a plan to renovate an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Dutchess County, was withdrawn when the developer sold the project.

The company, its parent, Benjamin Millennium Group, and assorted affiliates contributed a combined $271,700 to Cuomo, and the company’s president at the time, Alvin Benjamin, gave $25,000 in 2011.

Bill Mahoney, of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said the awarding of grants tied to donors raises questions. “Businesses rarely contribute to candidates for purely altruistic reasons – in most cases, they’re hoping to help their bottom lines,” Mahoney said.

“If Gov. Cuomo had fulfilled his promises to overhaul the campaign finance system, perhaps there wouldn’t be concerns over decisions like these.”