New York's SAFE Act and Other Gun Stuff

I've been wanting to put a link to info on the SAFE Act. As a non-ammosexual, I don't see anything that bothers me. Some things I like a lot.

The maximum capacity for all magazines is 10 rounds. 

Ammunition dealers are required to do background checks, similar to those for gun buyers. Dealers are required to report all sales, including amounts, to the state. Internet sales of ammunition are allowed, but the ammunition will have to be shipped to a licensed dealer in New York state for pickup.

Requires creation of a registry of assault weapons.

Requires designated mental health professionals who believe a mental health patient made a credible threat of harming others to report the threat to a mental health director, who would then have to report serious threats to the state Department of Criminal Justice Services. A patient's gun could be taken from him or her.

Stolen guns are required to be reported within 24 hours. Failure to report can result in a misdemeanor.

Requires background checks for all gun sales, including by private sellers - except for sales to members of the seller's immediate family. 

Guns must be "safely stored" from any household member who has been convicted of a felony or domestic violence crime, has been involuntarily committed, or is currently under an order of protection.

Mandates that all purchases of firearms go through a licensed firearm dealer(FFL), unless it is an exempted transfer between family members.

Requires pistol permit holders or owners of registered assault weapons to have them renewed at least every five years.

Allows law enforcement officials to seize regulated types of firearms from an individual, provided the individual has been certified by a medical professional to be too mentally unstable to safely possess "spray" firearms, shotguns, or rifles.

I'm not that excited about the "assault weapons." They're scary looking, but I believe (skimpy as my gun knowledge is) no more dangerous than a deer rifle. The rest of things the act does seem pretty reasonable. 

On this subject, I want to recommend a great book which is a very balanced look at gun laws. That is "Gun Fight" by Adam Winkler. He follows the DC gun law going to the Supreme Court and gives a lot of history on gun regulation in our country. It was amazing to hear that Dodge City, Tombstone, Virginia City and all these had strict gun laws. You had to turn in guns when entering the town. Concealed weapons of any kind was a serious violation. 

And good for Julianne Moore. 

We're acting now because, for too long, the gun debate in this country has focused on choosing a side: pro-gun or anti-gun. That is simply a false choice. We respect the Second Amendment but keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of convicted criminals, terrorists, domestic abusers, stalkers and dangerous people isn't anti-gun; it's pro-common sense.

The ways that we reduced auto fatalities can serve as a model for how we can reduce gun violence.

Many of us remember driving around without seatbelts or when driving drunk wasn't taboo. Mothers 

Against Drunk Driving and other groups teamed up with legislators and, together, they made it unacceptable and illegal to drive drunk or without buckling up.

As a result, countless lives have been saved.

While we have made dramatic progress in states and cities across the country, we still haven't done for gun safety what we've done for auto safety. The problem comes down to a powerful but calcified gun lobby that is out of step with its own constituents of gun owners and with the American people.

We know that more than 90 percent of Americans support common-sense reforms that are proven to save lives. What not enough people know and what the gun lobby doesn't want more of us to know is that a large majority of gun owners support these reforms too.

The Creative Council has already started our work and we need you to join us and help grow this movement. Please go to wecanendgunviolence.org, sign up, learn more about what you can do and take action.

Kev's Bookshelf

This is just a post I'll add to from time to time (maybe) noting books I've read from the shelves of the Crandall Library and not from my virtual bookshelves which are already over-brimming.

Books I've read and may want to read again because I have a memory like a sieve:

Political Science/History

"When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order"-Martin Jacques

"Amusing Ourselves to Death"-Neil Postman

"Empire of Illusion"-Chris Hedges

"Pity the Billionaire"-Thomas Franks

"The New Hate"-Arthur Goldwag

"King Leopold's Ghost"-Adam Hochschild

"The Icarus Syndrome" - Peter Beinart

"Terrorists at the Table" - Jonathan Powell

Religion

"Religious Literacy:What Every American Needs to Know and Doesn't"-Stephen Prothero

"The Jesus Mysteries"-Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy

"Christianity;The Origins of a Pagan Religion

"Who Wrote the Bible"-Richard Friedman

"I Don't Believe in Atheists" - Chris Hedges

"Young Jesus" - Jean-Pierre Isbouts

Urban Homesteading

"Food Not Lawns"-H.C. Flores

"Heirloom Vegetable Gardening"-Wm. Woys Weaver

"The Urban Homesteader"-Coyne and Knutzen

Gardening

"Beginner's Guide to Growing Heirloom Vegetables"-Marie Iannotti

"Gardening:The Complete Guide"-Miranda Smith

"Grow the Good Life"-Michele Owens

"Resilient Gardener"-Carol Deppe

"Breed Your Own Vegetables"-Ibid

"Small Budget Gardener"-Maureen Gilmer

"plant Propagator's Bible"-Smith

Economics

"The New Good Life"-Rob

Vegetarian Propaganda

"Eating Animals"-Jonathan Foer

Movies

"The Imitation Game"

"The King's Speech"

"Whiplash"

Farmed Out Monday Post

Writing today's post will be a Mr. Lucas Dobie of Queensbury, NY. This is his letter to the Post Star from a few days back that I've been meaning to put up.

During the 2014 congressional election, I wondered where this new, young, vibrant candidate came from and how she was thrust into the race as the front-runner?

Astonishingly, scores of more experienced, more qualified local leaders were bypassed. After reading Rep. Elise Stefanik’s comments regarding the Iran nuclear deal in Mr. Maury Thompson’s article, it is clear how she got here as a Washington insider and whom her handlers are: AIPAC and the neocons. To quote the congresswoman: “I agree with (Israeli) Prime Minister Netanyahu that this paves the path toward Iran achieving nuclear weapons capability. It’s bad for Israel. It’s bad for U.S. national security.”

As articulated by former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, all new congress members are required to make an “Israel first pledge” or they will become isolated and defeated in their re-election. It is obvious that Rep. Stefanik is playing this Zionist political game or is an Israel-first politician, rather than a 21st NY District representative.

I strongly encourage the local Democratic organizations to unite with Mr. Funiciello for the 2016 race in a bid to elect a congressman who will work for peace and U.S.-first interests, rather than the hawkish, neocon traditions which have been so devastating over the past 15 years.

Very nice, Lucas. I can't find a lot to disagree except that last paragraph. Not sure why Democrats would unite behind Matt Funiciello since he's made it quite clear that he is not one and has taken every opportunity he gets to trash them. Otherwise, I believe your chances for a date With Elise are about the same as mine.

Further on this topic is a book on Kev's Bookshelf that I have just started reading: Terrorists at the Table. I can tell you from what I've read so far is that many of these people that have negotiated with various factions are some of the bravest souls to have ever walked the planet. That and we are not going to kill our way out of the fight with ISIS. Fight smarter, not harder. 

The Republican War On American Health

OK, yeah blah blah blah from the Republicans, they are going to keep on keepin' on to repeal and replace Obamacare. I'm not going to bother putting any links up to the meaningless drivel that they are spouting. Why read that when you can be reading PAUL KRUGMAN.

Opponents of the law insisted that it would actually reduce coverage; in reality, around 15 million Americans have gained insurance.

…

What about costs? In 2013 there were dire warnings about a looming “rate shock”; instead, premiums came in well below expectations. In 2014 the usual suspects declared that huge premium increases were looming for 2015; the actual rise was just 2 percent. There was another flurry of scare stories about rate hikes earlier this year, but as more information comes in it looks as if premium increases for 2016 will be bigger than for this year but still modest by historical standards — which means that premiums remain much lower than expected.

And there has also been a sharp slowdown in the growth of overall health spending, which is probably due in part to the cost-control measures, largely aimed at Medicare, that were also an important part of health reform.

What about economic side effects? One of the many, many Republican votes against Obamacare involved passing something called the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, and opponents have consistently warned that helping Americans afford health care would lead to economic doom. But there’s no job-killing in the data: The U.S. economy has added more than 240,000 jobs a month on average since Obamacare went into effect, its biggest gains since the 1990s.

It was sad to see Scalia have a tantrum in full reactionary political mode. He's usually a better justice than that.

Finally, what about claims that health reform would cause the budget deficit to explode? In reality, the deficit has continued to decline, and the Congressional Budget Office recently reaffirmed its conclusion that repealing Obamacare would increase, not reduce, the deficit.

Put all these things together, and what you have is a portrait of policy triumph — a law that, despite everything its opponents have done to undermine it, is achieving its goals, costing less than expected, and making the lives of millions of Americans better and more secure.

…

But what conservatives have always feared about health reform is the possibility that it might succeed, and in so doing remind voters that sometimes government action can improve ordinary Americans’ lives.

That’s why the right went all out to destroy the Clinton health plan in 1993, and tried to do the same to the Affordable Care Act. But Obamacare has survived, it’s here, and it’s working. The great conservative nightmare has come true. And it’s a beautiful thing.

Yeah, I don't know why I didn't just copy and paste the whole thing either. But there is much more and it's great, so go read it so I don't get in trouble with the NYTimes. It's bad enough that CSM is the paper of record here. 

But what I really wanted to talk about was how the Republican Party wants us to eat more meat and kill ourselves with it as well as killing the planet.  

The report, which informs the Dietary Guidelines for Americans that are updated every five years, found that “a diet higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and lower in calories and animal-based foods is more health promoting and is associated with less environmental impact than is the current U.S. diet.” This is the first time the sustainability of our dietary choices has been taken into consideration by the DGAC; according to the report, it is “essential to ensure a healthy food supply will be available for future generations.”

…

This past Wednesday, the House approved two spendingbills that would completely alter the way the government is permitted to adapt the DGAC’s evidence-based recommendations. They do so by raising that standard of evidence: the agencies that form the Dietary Guidelines, they say, can only rely on the very strongest science in these matters. The DGAC rates its evidence on a three-level scale — “strong,” “moderate” and “limited” — and the science supporting a plant-based diet was deemed “moderate”: too low, by the bills’ standards, to be relevant.

And I will recommend two books that occupy places of honor on my bookshelf (at the Crandall Library), Eating Animals by Jonathan Foer and The Modern Savage by James McWilliams. It's not easy to avoid meat in our meat-based society, but it's worth at least cutting back to any extent possible. Think of the poor animals in their cages where they can't move when you eat that bacon burger and chicken fries.