Or not try at all, yet:
Cuomo Cracks Door Open On Pre-State Of State Gun Control
JAN 2ND - 3:29 PM
Posted by Nick Reisman in Andrew Cuomo 0 Comments
Between the lines at Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s cabinet meeting was an implied hint that he wasn’t ruling out a special session before the State of the State on Jan. 9 to tighten the state’s gun conrol laws.
Cuomo pushed lawmakers to come back last week for a special session to address the issue, but many legislators were out of town for the Christmas holiday.
Passing gun control legislation now would make New York the first state in the country to approve any measures since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and after the shooting of firefighters in Webster, outside of Rochester.
Cuomo told reporters at the meeting that no deal on gun control legislation — which could include an updated ban on assault weapons — and that there were no plans to bring lawmakers back to Albany. For now.
“I bring them back when we have an agreement,” Cuomo said. ”We don’t have an agreement.”
The governor was asked about the timing of his gun control measures and when they would be introduced. Cuomo has a knack for introducing legislation when it’s assured the measure will actually pass both chambers of the Legislature. Once a deal is in place, Cuomo doesn’t like to dawdle and allow an agreement to fall apart over night.
“We now have the State of the State in a number of days,” Cuomo said. ”So to bring them back — they’re going to be here in a few days anyway. That would all have to weighed, but we don’t have an agreement so I don’t have any plan to bring them back.”
If Cuomo wants to be the first state to pass a meaningful gun control measure, the period of time before the State of the State may be his best shot. Albany is usually dominated by budget discussions at the end of March and the more contentious legislation gets done the final week of the legislative session in June (last year’s Big Ugly in March was an exception, but that had to do with the timing of a judge’s ruling on redistricting).
Regardless of when the legislation will come out, Cuomo indicated today that he doesn’t expect a gun control measure to include microstamping and he would not take a position on whether the Empire State Plaza should hold a gun show later this year.