Twenty-three New York gun show operators accounting for more than 80 percent of the state’s gun show sales have been successfully strong-armed into new rules by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the New York Times reports. After undercover agents managed to buy AR-15 assault rifles and other high-powered weapons, even when admitting they couldn’t pass a background check, the sellers agreed to even more restrictions on criminal and mental-health checks, thus adding to the state’s already tight (and getting tighter) gun laws.
“Our goal is to have 100 percent of the gun show operators on board, and then we have a good example for other states to follow,” said Schneiderman, who’s setting an example for the country. “Once we demonstrate how easy this is, and how it keeps people safe, it weakens the arguments on the federal level that guaranteeing background checks are overly burdensome or face meaningful opposition.”
The U.S. Senate, meanwhile, moved its gun bill out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line 10 to 8 vote. “The road is uphill and I fully understand that,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, the long-shot assault weapons ban’s sponsor. “Are we going to stand with the victims of gun violence?”
Feinstein also, admittedly, got her “dander up,” snapping at a dismissive Republican Ted Cruz, “I’m not a sixth grader. Senator, I’ve been on this committee for 20 years. I was a mayor for nine years. I walked in, I saw people shot. I’ve looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons. … It’s fine you want to lecture me on the Constitution. I appreciate it.”
