By Michael A. Morrongiello, Ph. D.

A hate-filled mentally ill man attacked Hasidic Jews with a machete, in the home of their Rabbi, in the upstate town of Monsey, New York, seriously injuring five. Senate Minority Leader Schumer promptly called for an increase in Federal grants to help secure houses of worship and schools. The attack, New York’s Governor Cuomo said, was due to a “scourge of hate in this country” and Cuomo, never to be outpandered, proposed a new state law, the Hate Crimes Domestic Terrorism Act, which makes illegal that which is already illegal. If Cuomo was being consistent, he would have called for a ban on “assault machetes.”

New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio, who can out-pander anyone, said, “We New Yorkers have the ability to stop the hatred.” Frighteningly, the mayor thinks, or wants you to think, that he has the power to change people’s feelings. The new “no bail law” in New York State turns many violent offenders loose. But thankfully, this perpetrator of this crime remains in jail on $5 million bail.

Let’s compare the Democrat response to the machete attack in Monsey with the Newtown, Connecticut shooting. The difference in tone and focus is striking. Immediately after the Newtown shooting and long before the facts were known, Schumer, Cuomo, et al. blamed so-called assault weapons. At the federal level, Schumer pushed for tougher gun control laws, while Cuomo shoved the Safe Act through the state legislature in record time. Boosting funding to make schools a harder target was never a priority. Democrats never blamed alienation or mental health services that don’t reach everyone. Nor did they blame a collapsing moral structure. The focus of their ire was never the shooter, another mentally ill man who stole his mother’s guns and murdered her before going to the Newtown school to slaughter the innocents. No, they blamed guns and, by extension, gun owners. Here in New York, the Safe Act didn’t make schools safer - it made gun ownership harder, which was the point.

But New York’s ruling ideocracy is at it again with State Senate bill S1412. This monstrosity will require every buyer of a shotgun or long gun to apply for a hunting license first. The bill imposes other burdens such as: taking a 5-hour gun safety course, passing a shooting test with 90% accuracy, notarized proof of a passed drug test and mental health evaluation, and finally, proof of safe storage.

Meanwhile, New York State continues to hemorrhage population. The latest census data paints a bleak picture. New York has lost 1.4 million people to other states since 2010. Cuomo was governor for 9 of those 10 years. New York lost 77,000 people in 2019. I don’t know the numbers for the 55 counties upstate, but I know that upstate always takes it on the chin.

The title of this article says it all. We know that the Albany/ Washington ruling class would love to delete the Second Amendment. But Cuomo, et.al. never admit it; instead, they say they want to make us safer. They’re obviously lying. Their arrogance knows no bounds; it is gigantic, oceanic, titanic arrogance. Lies and hubris make for bad public policy. Problems are never really defined or solved. People experience the results and they sense that their leaders are dishonest and govern poorly. This is why people flee New York, if they can.