A court has ordered New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to release records from his SAFE Act’s assault weapons registry immediately as a result of a lawsuit filed against him by a radio talk show host.
The New York Supreme Court in Albany County ordered Cuomo to release statistical records related to the registry from the New York State Police. Judge Thomas J. McNamara directed the release of records after Freedom of Information Act requests were denied for over a year.
The court’s judgement indicated that the State Police received 2,019 FOIA requests for records similar to the petitioner’s request from January to September 2014.
“The reason we pursued it for our station was to get figures from the government, and they weren’t providing it,” said Bill Robinson, host of the Second Amendment Radio Show and the Homeland Security Radio Show at WYSL, a talk radio station in Avon, New York.
“They are supposed to be public servants, and we pay them,” said Robinson. “We’ve had enough of this nonsense. They work for us and we want to remind them of that.”
Robinson said he was asking for general statistical information from the registry, not confidential material such as names of those on the registry or their addresses. “And we had to sue for it,” he said.
Robinson’s attorney, Paloma Capanna, said in a prepared statement that the ruling takes effect immediately.
“We won. The ruling is clear and unequivocal. The effect of the ruling is immediate,” said Capanna. “Any failure to comply with the ruling can—and will—be met with an application for civil contempt against the New York State Police.”
Didn't Andrew Cuomo say he was going to run the most transparent governorship in state history?
How come people have to keep suing to get FOIA requests fulfilled by Cuomo and his government?
Is it possible that the so-called SAFE Act Cuomo rammed through will be exposed as ineffectual once the statistics are released?
“The Cuomo Administration has the worst record for transparency in modern New York political history. Everything is a secret to the governor, and he fights tooth and nail to keep the public from knowing what is going on,” said Assemblyman David DiPietro (R.).
“Maybe with this great victory in court, we will finally have an open window to see whether this registry is yet another maneuver by the Cuomo Administration for personal gain with no public benefit,” said DiPietro.
“The SAFE Act never had anything to do with preventing crime or tragedy, which is why Andrew Cuomo is now refusing to provide any meaningful information about its enforcement. It was a staged theatric, which will do nothing more than snag otherwise law-abiding New York citizens in a nightmare of compliance problems,” said Assemblyman Bill Nojay (R.).
Syracuse.com reports Cuomo may appeal the decision:
A spokesman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office said the administration is reviewing the decision. It's possible Cuomo could appeal the decision, delaying the release of information.
As for the effectiveness of the SAFE Act, here again is Syracuse.com:
The NY Safe Act passed in January 2013, one month after the school shootings in Newtown, Conn. At the time, Cuomo championed the legislation as the strictest gun control laws in the nation.
Since then, a federal judge has rejected a seven-bullet maximum as arbitrary. A background check for all ammunition sales still has not been implemented.
A commenter at Syracuse.com puts the SAFE Act into perspective:
Baby Mario's refusal to release the data merely highlights the impotence of these gun laws which he is now trying to hide from the public. Remember the "spent case database" that NYS rammed through years ago. Millions of dollars spent and how many crimes did it help solve - ZERO! So it is with the so-called Safe Act which was yet another shameless bill rammed thru in the dead of night by a person who - like his father before him - aspires to run for president some day. Only if you agree first to tell the American people of your complicity while running HUD in the 2008 mortgage lending meltdown. The "goal" of the Safe Act was never to actually "impact crime" for which it's impact in truth has been negligible - the goal was nothing more than Baby Mario's attempt to pander to the anti-gun Left in NYC.
The SAFE Act, badly designed and rammed through quickly so that opponents and critics could point out the flaws...
Gee, sounds like Cuomo's teacher evaluation system and education reform agenda too.
And those won't be any more effective than the SAFE Act in doing what it is Cuomo claims they're supposed to do.
Good reminder about Cuomo and HUD. His actions as governor are objectionable enough, but the HUD disaster is another mark against him.
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