NY seals 1st state gun laws since Newtown massacre

New York lawmakers agreed to pass the toughest gun control law in the nation and the first since the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, and now dare other states and Washington to follow

"This is a scourge on society," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday night, six days after making gun control a centerpiece of his progressive agenda in his State of the State address. The bipartisan effort was fueled by the Newton tragedy that took the lives of 20 first graders and six educators. "At what point do you say, 'No more innocent loss of life.'"

Sen. Jeffrey Klein, leader of the Independent Democratic Conference in the Senate, said it is landmark legislation. "This is not about taking anyone's rights away," said Klein, a Bronx Democrat. "It's about a safe society ... today we are setting the mark for the rest of the county to do what's right."

The measure, which calls for a tougher assault weapons ban and restrictions on ammunition and the sale of guns, passed the Senate 43-18 on the strength of support from Democrats, many of whom previously sponsored bills that were once blocked by Republicans. The Democrat-led Assembly gaveled out before midnight and planned to take the issue up at 10 a.m. Tuesday. It is expected to pass easily.

The governor confirmed the proposal, previously worked out in closed session, also would mandate a police registry of assault weapons, grandfathering in assault weapons already in private hands.

It would create a more powerful tool to require the reporting of mentally ill people who say they intend to use a gun illegally and would address the unsafe storage of guns, the governor confirmed.

It was agreed upon exactly a month since the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.

"It is well-balanced, it protects the Second Amendment," said Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Long Island. "And there is no confiscation of weapons, which was at one time being considered.

"This is going to go after those who are bringing illegal guns into the state, who are slaughtering people in New York City," Skelos said. "This is going to put people in jail and keep people in jail who shouldn't be out on the street in the first place."

Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Yonkers noted most bills had been pushed by Democrats in past years, but bottled up by Republicans.

"The Senate Democrats were proud to provide the votes to make this crucial package possible," said Stewart-Cousins, leader of the traditional Democratic conference. "The fact is, the bills passed today should have been enacted a long time ago."

Cuomo said he wanted quick action to avoid a run on assault rifles and ammunition as he tries to address what he estimates is about 1 million assault rifles in New York state.

Republican Sen. Greg Ball called that political opportunism in a rare criticism of the popular and powerful governor seen by his supporters as a possible candidate for president in 2016.

"We haven't saved any lives tonight, except one: the political life of a governor who wants to be president," said Ball who represents part of the Hudson Valley. "We have taken an entire category of firearms that are currently legal that are in the homes of law-abiding, tax paying citizens. ... We are now turning those law-abiding citizens into criminals."

Under current state law, assault weapons are defined by having two "military rifle" features spelled out in the law. The proposal would reduce that to one feature and include the popular pistol grip.

Private sales of assault weapons to someone other than an immediate family would be subject to a background check through a dealer. Also Internet sales of assault weapons would be banned, and failing to safely store a weapon could be subject to a misdemeanor charge.

Ammunition magazines would be restricted to seven bullets, from the current 10, and current owners of higher-capacity magazines would have a year to sell them out of state. An owner caught at home with eight or more bullets in a magazine could face a misdemeanor charge.

In another provision, a therapist who believes a mental health patient made a credible threat to use a gun illegally would be required to report the incident to a mental health director who would have to report serious threats to the state Department of Criminal Justice Services. A patient's gun could be taken from him or her.

The legislation also increases sentences for gun crimes including the shooting of a first responder that Cuomo called the "Webster provision." Last month in the western New York town of Webster, two firefighters were killed after responding to a fire set by the shooter, who eventually killed himself.

Senate Deputy Majority Leader Thomas Libous of Broome County voted against the bill and said it was a tough vote for upstate Republicans.

"I have had thousands of emails and calls," Libous said. "I have to respect their wishes." He said many of constituents worry the bill will conflict with the Second Amendment's right to bear arms while others anguish over shootings like at Newtown, Conn., and Columbine, Colo.

The closed-door meetings prompted about a dozen gun workers to travel more than two hours to Albany to protest the legislation they say could cost 300 to 700 jobs in the economically hard-hit Mohawk Valley.

"I have three small kids myself," said Jamie Rudall, a unionized worker who polishes shotgun receivers. "So I know what it means, the tragedy ... we need to look at ways to prevent that, rather than eliminate the rights of law-abiding citizens."

In the gun debate, one concern for New York is its major gun manufacturer upstate.

Remington Arms Co. makes the Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle that was used in the Connecticut shootings and again on Christmas Eve when the two firefighters were slain in Webster. The two-century-old Remington factory in Ilion in central New York employs 1,000 workers in a Republican Senate district.

Assemblyman Marc Butler, a Republican who represents the area, decried the closed-door meetings by Senate Republicans and the Democratic majority of the Assembly as "politics at its worst."

The bill would be the first test of the new coalition in control of the Senate, which has long been run by Republicans opposed to gun control measures. The chamber is now in the hands of Republicans and five breakaway Democrats led by Klein, an arrangement expected to result in more progressive legislation.

Former Republican Sen. Michael Balboni said that for legislators from the more conservative upstate region of New York, gun control "has the intensity of the gay marriage issue." In 2011, three of four Republicans who crossed the aisle to vote for same-sex marriage ended up losing their jobs because of their votes.

Commentary: We should avoid more liberal gun laws

Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday plans to submit his recommendations to President Barack Obama on new gun control proposals.

But don’t expect the National Rifle Association’s buy-in. Biden’s plan includes limits on high-capacity magazines, improved background checks on gun buyers and promotion of gun safety.

Obama asked Biden to head a task force on gun control, mental health services and violence in the media and video games. Biden took it on with the right sense of urgency.

It’s all in response to widespread public outrage over the mass shootings on Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

That school shooting included the deaths of 20 children and six adults. But Americans also are outraged over the recurring mass shootings, including at a shopping center during the holiday season in a suburb of Portland, Ore., and a movie theater in July in Aurora, Colo.

The country has been in this uncomfortable place before. At a diversity discussion group last week in Overland Park, a gun collector said 1968 was pivotal for the NRA.

The assassinations of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the slayings of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 and rioting during the civil rights era — including Kansas City — pushed the NRA into a corner, resulting in meaningful gun control legislation. A Violence Policy Center article said those historical events and the public outcry that followed broke the NRA’s ability to stop gun control legislation. It culminated in President Lyndon Johnson signing the Gun Control Act of 1968.

The law included a ban on the interstate traffic of firearms and ammunition, and it prohibited persons such as minors, felons, drug addicts, the mentally ill and fugitives from having guns. It banned imports of surplus military weapons as well as guns and ammunition not federally certified as sporting weapons or souvenirs. At that time, the law contained the most significant restrictions on firearms enacted by Congress in decades.

“As historian Richard Hofstadter noted in 1970, ‘there was an almost touching national revulsion against our own gun culture,’ ” the Violence Policy Center article said. We are close to that public outrage today.

Public demands for action against gun violence is what the NRA doesn’t want and instead is pushing for armed guards in all schools.

But armed guards are no guarantee. President Ronald Reagan on March 30,1981, was surrounded by the best armed guards in the country, yet John Hinckley Jr. shot the president; his press secretary James Brady; Timothy McCarthy, a Secret Service agent; and Thomas Delahanty, a District of Columbia policeman.

The long-maintained outrage over that shooting resulted in President Bill Clinton signing the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act into law 20 years ago. It required handgun buyers wait five business days for authorities to do a background check.

As always happens, meaningful gun control acts lead to increases in the membership and political strength of the NRA. But despite the Second Amendment right to own firearms, the greater issue should be individual safety: not fearing sending children to school, going shopping or enjoying a movie or restaurant. Yet here in the Kansas City area, many were shocked when a man reaching into his pocket during a night out at the Longbranch Steakhouse in Lenexa this month accidentally discharged a pistol. The bullet struck his wife in the leg above the knee. She was treated at a hospital and released.

The man had a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon, but accidents happen. Many fail to take that into account as they back concealed carry and open carry of firearms in cities such as Overland Park.

The Libertarian Party of Kansas has filed a lawsuit against Prairie Village, Leawood and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., in an effort to force those towns to liberalize gun laws. Thank goodness the cities are resisting.

In this week before the holiday honoring the birth of civil rights leader King, we need to be more committed to resisting liberal gun policies for the safety of everyone.

France keeps up Mali air strikes, African troop plan advances

France kept up its air strikes against Islamist rebels in Mali as plans to deploy African troops gathered pace on Tuesday amid concerns that delays could endanger a wider mission to dislodge al Qaeda and its allies.

France has already poured hundreds of troops into Mali and carried out days of air strikes since Friday in a vast desert area seized last year by an Islamist alliance that combines al Qaeda's north African wing AQIM with Mali's home-grown MUJWA and Ansar Dine rebel groups.

 Western and regional powers are concerned the insurgents will use Mali's north as a launchpad for international attacks.

West African defense chiefs were to meet in Bamako on Tuesday to approve plans to speed up the deployment of 3,300 regional troops foreseen in a U.N.-backed intervention plan to be led by Africans.

Speaking from a French military base in Abu Dhabi at the start of a day-long visit to the United Arab Emirates, President Francois Hollande said French forces in Mali had carried out further strikes overnight "which hit their targets."

"We will continue the deployment of forces on the ground and in the air," Hollande said. "We have 750 troops deployed at the moment and that will keep increasing so that as quickly as possible we can hand over to the Africans."

He saw the African troop deployment taking "a good week".

France plans to field a total 2,500 soldiers in its former colony to bolster the Malian army and work with the intervention force provided by the ECOWAS grouping of West African states.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius - accompanying Hollande on a visit aimed at firming up trade relations and making progress on a possible sale of 60 French Rafale fighter jets - said he was confident Gulf Arab states would also help the Mali campaign.

Fabius said there would be a meeting of donors for the Mali operation most likely in Addis Ababa at the end of January.

He predicted the current level of the French involvement in Mali would go on for "a matter of weeks".

ECOWAS mission head in Bamako Aboudou Toure Cheaka said the West African troops would be on the ground in a week. Their immediate mission would be to help stop the rebel advance while preparations for a full intervention plan continued.

The original timetable for the 3,300-strong U.N.-sanctioned African force - backed by western logistics, money and intelligence services - did not initially foresee full deployment before September due to logistical constraints.

Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and Guinea have all offered troops. But regional powerhouse Nigeria, which is due to lead the mission, has cautioned that even if some troops arrive in Mali soon, training will take more time.

The plan is being fast-tracked after a plea for help by Mali's government after mobile columns of Islamist fighters last week threatened the central garrison towns of Mopti and Sevare, with its key airport.

"SAFEGUARD MALI"

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said France's goals were to stop the Islamist rebels, to "safeguard the existence of Mali" and pave the way for the African-led military operation.

U.S. officials said Washington was sharing information with French forces in Mali and considering providing logistics, surveillance and airlift capability.

"We have made a commitment that al Qaeda is not going to find anyplace to hide," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters as he began a visit to Europe.

As French aircraft bombarded mobile columns of Islamist fighters, other insurgents launched a counter-attack further to the south, dislodging government forces from the town of Diabaly, 350 km (220 miles) from Bamako.

French intervention has raised the risk for eight French hostages held by al Qaeda allies in the Sahara and for 30,000 French expatriates living in neighboring, mostly Muslim states. Concerned about reprisals at home, France has tightened security at public buildings and on public transport.

The U.N. said an estimated 30,000 people had fled the latest fighting in Mali, joining more than 200,000 already displaced.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday welcomed the French-led military intervention in Mali and voiced the hope that it would halt the Islamist assault.

Amnesty International said at least six civilians were killed in recent fighting in the town of Konna, where French aircraft had earlier bombarded rebel positions, and called on both sides to spare non-combatants.

France, which has repeatedly said it has abandoned its role as the policeman of its former African colonies, is among the toughest proponents of a speedier deployment of the African troops, and convened a U.N. Security Council meeting Monday to discuss the crisis.

French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters after the meeting that the U.S., Canada, Belgium, Denmark and Germany had also offered logistical support for France's Mali operation.

"I felt that all the members of the Security Council were expressing their support (for) and understanding of the French decision," Araud told reporters.

No Europeans or other African Union members will be allowed in the defense chiefs meeting in Bamako on Tuesday, a western diplomat told Reuters, requesting not to be named.

"They don't want any French pressure at the meeting," the diplomat said.

CES 2013 kicks off this week

The nation’s largest trade show, the International CES, kicks off in Las Vegas this week, drawing thousands of attendees and exhibitors peddling everything from smartphones to kitchen appliances to electric cars.

The gadget pageant has expanded its focus significantly in recent years. It’s now divided into more than two dozen “TechZones” with products geared toward moms, kids, homeowners, gamers, environmentalists, educators, fitness nuts and medical professionals.

The competition is meant to give entrepreneurs a boost and a potential shot at pitching to business maven Ted Leonsis.

The Arlington-based Consumer Electronics Association, which orchestrates the annual event, even swapped its long-held moniker, the Consumer Electronics Show, for the more amorphous International CES.

“We’ve successfully positioned ourselves as the innovation event for the year, so we have a diverse set of industries represented,” said Gary Shapiro, the association’s president. “Consumer electronics does not begin to describe what’s at the show, frankly.”

Shapiro said exhibitors have leased a record 1.9 million net square feet of floor space. That’s full capacity until the association can take over another convention center in 2015, he said.

CEA has put greater emphasis on entrepreneurs in the past two years, part of an effort to give the show longevity and relevance in an industry that’s increasingly shaped by small players who punch above their weight.

McLean-based TroopID will display the service it started in November that helps retailers verify military personnel and veterans for discounts at a booth in the show’s exhibit for start-up ventures called Eureka Park.

TroopID’s founder and chief executive Blake Hall won the slot at a business pitch competition in November, but had not heard of CES before that.

“I talked to a few of our investors, especially folks who had been out there before, and I realized this is a good opportunity to network in one week with folks and showcase our technology,” Hall said.

Executives at Hillcrest Labs in Rockville will travel to CES this week as they’ve done for at least the past 10 years. The company reserves a hotel suite where they host 50 to 70 meetings with potential partners.

“It’s just a nice, concentrated event where we can be in front of a lot of people and let them know what we’re going to be doing in the coming year,” said Chad Lucien, senior vice president for sales and marketing.

Hillcrest Labs makes a motion control technology called “Freespace” for television remotes and smartphones that detects a person’s hand movement. The company met their first major partner, LG, at CES several years ago and Lucien said the show’s ever-expanding focus creates even more opportunities.

“It makes for a more interesting venue, and when you’re a company like us with enabling technology, you can expand into other market places,” Lucien said.

Other local companies in attendance will include language software creator Rosetta Stone, radio technology firm iBiquity Digital, automaker Audi of America and electronic deadbolt company SimpliciKey, among others.

But as the association and its flagship program continue to encompass new industries, some say it diverts focus in too many directions.

“As they have grown, they have divided into so many subsections that you get less attention,” said Richard Taylor, chief marketing officer at Echo360, a classroom technology company in Dulles.

Echo360 made the trek to Las Vegas last year for the higher education technology portion of CES, one of 150 events the company attended. Taylor said the firm is paring that number back to 60 this year, and CES didn’t make the cut.

“CES is huge obviously, but when you get down to the education portion, you get people that dribble in and out, but there wasn’t a lot of foot traffic,” Taylor said. “We didn’t meet a lot of new clients and we didn’t see a lot of our existing clients.”

Though Shapiro said the number of total exhibitors is up compared with last year, the number of registered local exhibitors is down. Fifty-one companies from Maryland, Virginia and the District are listed in the show’s online directory this year, down from 59 last year, the trade association said.

“Companies are always coming in and going out, depending on their various needs and products,” Shapiro said. “We’ve had companies drop out at the last minute ... but there’s always people on the waiting list to take their place.”