A Brief Comment by Doug Draper
Niagara, Ontario’s closest American neighbor – New York State – may soon be home ground for the most restrictive laws on the trafficking and ownership of guns in the United States.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo
In his annual State of the State address this January 9, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his plan to enact the toughest laws in his country on removing military style, assault weapons and high-capacity clips for guns and rifles from circulation.
“End the madness now,” said Cuomo in the wake of continued mass killings by lone shooters with military-style weapons – two of the latest cases occurring in Newtown, Connecticut where 26 people, including 20 young children, were blown away within a matter of minutes, and a community near Rochester, New York where two firefighters were gunned down while responding to a fire a lone gun nut started to lure first responders in for the kill.
“Gun violence has been on a rampage as we know firsthand and we know painfully,” added the governor who has admitted he owns a shotgun for hunting. “I say to you forget the extremists. It’s simply – no one hunts with an assault rifle. No one needs 10 bullets to kill and bear and too many people have died already.”
I believe that everyone in Governor Cuomo’s state and in neighbouring Ontario, where many of the guns used in violent crimes in the province are smuggled across the border from the U.S., should wish him well in getting tougher laws, including stricter background checks on would-be gun owners passed.
Let us also hope, for the sake of Americans who wish to live without fear of becoming another statistic in an incident of gun violence, and for Canadians who have friends and relatives in the United States, and who visit that country where they might become a random victim of gun violence themselves, that efforts now underway to finally find a reasonable middle ground between American’s Second Amendment rights to bear arms and gun extremists’ demands to own virtually every conceivable, hand-held weapons used in war prove successful.
It won’t be easier for Cuomo or for the Obama White House to pass more restrictive laws on the circulation of military style weapons. Already the National Rifle Association and other gun extremists are comparing them to Hitler and Stalin for moving in that direction. And what is really disturbing is that many of these people say they are prepared to take up arms against a ‘tyrannical government’ if they feel their right to own weapons that can fire upwards of 60 rounds per minute into a school, shopping mall, movie theatre or place of work are taken away.
Like New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said; “Enough of the madness.”
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post, but only if you also share your first and last name with your comment. Anything less will see the comment transferred to the trash. This is not the St. Catharines Standard’s blog which will accept any kind of comment from someone who calls themselves ‘flame thrower’ or whatever.)
Niagara At Large 
How many musket balls can be fired in a hour? Hell these assault rifles “OWNED” by American gun rights advocates can fire MORE high capacity to kill bullets in a few seconds.
The muskets that are involved in the second ammendment were basically for hunting and for defense of ones being and home where as these nut cases who feel they have a “RIGHT” to own AK47s and other means of mass elimination are not the compassionate people I had grown to respect in fact they are the hate factor that hurts America and Americans throughout the world.
Thank God most Americans do not need to show how “MACHO” they are and are appalled when they are lumped in with these crazies in their need for bragging rights.
The gun manufacturers are the single largest supporter of the NRA and the NRA literally consider the “REPUBLICAN PARTY” to be their own as over 80% of their election support money is directed to that PARTY’s people who support their ideology
The fact that they would threaten the American Government with insurrection is in itself an act that should be regarded as treachery
and treated as such.
The realization that New York’s Governor Cuomo has seen fit to attempt to eliminate, in his state, the distribution of these horrific “WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION” indicates a sensitivity and moral duty to his electorate and yes to his own family.
AMERICA……More Governor Cuomos are needed.
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The smartest thing said in this article is ” find a reasonable middle ground”. It’s time we gun advocates realized there is a cultural problem. Guns don’t kill people but mentally ill people that do kill others can legally get guns easily. Now if they really wanted to ” find a reasonable middle ground” they would be focusing a lot more on the illegal gun trade that no laws will stop. Not letting violent criminals plea would be a good start. I don’t know what all the answers are but the discussion needs to at least be taken seriously. That appears to be the only barrier between tougher gun control and the pro-gun advocates. Can I say ” find a reasonable middle ground” one last time?
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Totally agreed. It seems like nothing is ever simple in the United States and having the country founded on the principle that everyone has the right to have a gun doesn’t help. Hopefully something will change there.
Just to show how real life is often more complicated than we want it to be. One of the NRA’s biggest supporters in congress is the leader of the Democrat party in Congress, Senate Leader Harry Reid. That’s why anti gun laws can’t get passed in either the Democrat Controlled Senate or the Republican controlled House.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/harry-reid-youtube-account-features-video-with-hea
http://www.therightscoop.com/weird-obamacare-prohibits-feds-from-collecting-any-info-on-lawful-gun-owners-thanks-to-harry-reid/
The Senate Democrats just voted this guy their leader again so it seems they’re fine with him.
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