Banning Extreme Conservatives

For John, BLUF:  I guess there is no place for NRA members or Right to Life folks in The Empire State.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Andrew Cuomo is now at war with the Bill of Rights

From The New York Post, by Reporter Seth Lipsky, 8 August 2018.

Here is the lede plus five:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s lawyers will be in federal court in Albany next month, when they’ll try to get a judge to dismiss the lawsuit against him by America’s largest civil rights organization.

The group is the National Rifle Association, which is asking a federal court to halt the governor’s efforts to use financial regulations to drive the gun rights group out of business here.  Think of it as the first court test of what could be called the “Cuomo doctrine”:  the governor’s vow that “extreme conservatives” have “no place in the state of New York.”

Cuomo first declared his doctrine in a radio interview in January 2014. He railed against “extreme conservatives who are ‘right to life,’ ‘pro-assault weapon,’ ‘anti-gay.’”  Cuomo didn’t say whether he meant to include in his list of deplorables all Catholics, say, or Muslims, or Orthodox Jews.

What had really set Cuomo off was Republican opposition to his gun-control measures.  He was infuriated that, after Sandy Hook, some objected to tightening already-strict New York gun laws.

Fair enough, one might say.  The governor of New York is entitled to have a view on guns, to differ with the NRA and to join robustly in the debate over what to do about gun violence.

In April of this year, though, state regulators told insurers and banks they oversee to look at their relationships with gun rights groups.  They warned of “reputational risks” in their “dealings” with the NRA.

Yes, maybe the Democrats are correct.  We elected Donald Trump and now it feels like we are living in Nazi Germany, or Stalinist Russia, or the Bolivarian Socialist Republic of Venezuela.  Well, I don't, since I live in Massachusetts, but think about living in New York State.  Terrible.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff