by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
If you like watching political and legislative chaos, you should reserve a season seat in the gallery of the New York state Senate in the closing weeks of this session.
If you are a gunowner who was worried about how the state Senate would vote on the 13 anti-gun bills previously approved by the Democrat-dominated state Assembly, you may sigh with some relief but continue to hold your breath.
The gun bills, including SB-4397A, a measure mandating micro-stamping technology in future semi-automatic handguns sold in the state, which had been scheduled for a Senate vote on June 8, could be dead for this session, but nobody’s willing to read an epitaph yet.
The day the micro-stamping bill was scheduled for a vote was the day the Republicans pulled off a historic coup to regain control of the state Senate. Legislation that had already been scheduled for a vote will remain on the calendar until the chaos in the 62 member state Senate is resolved.
Gun legislation is not the only hot-button issue still simmering in Albany. The standoff throws the fate of nearly every item on Gov. David Paterson’s agenda—from same-sex marriage to ethics reform to mayoral control in schools—into limbo.