Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), who bungled his state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic through the emergency powers he gave himself, has declared another emergency in the Empire State.
Cuomo on Tuesday signed an executive order declaring a disaster emergency on gun violence, which he said was the first of its kind in America. The executive order outlined how the state would respond to rising gun violence, without any mention of the root causes. For example, the executive order doesn’t mention anything about mental illness or the fact that New York’s bail reform law has allowed dangerous criminals to return to the streets after being arrested. As The Daily Wire has documented, some of these criminals have committed violent crimes while out on bail for other violent crimes.
But Cuomo’s executive order includes lofty goals for seven “key areas”:
- Treat gun violence like the emergency public health it is;
- Target hotspots with data and science;
- Positive engagement for at-risk youth;
- Break the cycle of escalating violence;
- Get illegal guns off the streets;
- Keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people;
- Rebuild the police-community relationship
Some of those goals should give pause to those who followed Cuomo’s “leadership” during the coronavirus pandemic, as New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz noted on Twitter.
“Gov. Cuomo should never have emergency powers ever again,” Markowicz tweeted. “And ‘target hotspots with data and science’ is something the Cuomo administration was unable to do even during the actual public health crisis.”
Markowicz is correct, as targeting hotspots with data and science during the coronavirus pandemic would have ensured Cuomo’s administration protected the elderly and vulnerable, instead of sending COVID-19-infected patients into nursing homes via government mandate. Instead, Cuomo’s decision led to the deaths of more than 16,000 nursing home patients while he and his administration allegedly tried to cover up their devastating mistake in order to sell his book.
But on Tuesday, Cuomo acted as if he had handled the pandemic just fine and was now prepared to handle what he called “another epidemic.”
“We went from one epidemic to another epidemic. We went from COVID to the epidemic of gun violence. And the fear and the death that goes along with it,” Cuomo said while signing the executive order and two bills relating to gun control. “When you look at the recent numbers, more people are dying of gun violence than of COVID … we’re losing young people.”
As Fox News reported, Cuomo said the executive order would make taxpayer money available for programs aimed at gun violence prevention and that he would be creating an Office of Gun Violence Prevention inside the state’s Department of Health.
Cuomo also signed two bills on Tuesday, Fox reported.
“The first legislation opens the door for anyone to take legal action against a gun manufacturer using the argument that the product creates a ‘public nuisance,’ according to the governor’s office. Products made by gun manufacturers can be considered public nuisances ‘even if the gun manufacturer did not purposely cause harm to the public,’ the press release states,” the outlet reported. “The second legislation prohibits any person who has an outstanding warrant for ‘a felony or serious offense’ from purchasing a firearm.”
New York Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt perhaps summed up Cuomo’s newest declaration best, calling it “political grandstanding.”
“Days after finally relinquishing his emergency powers, the governor has declared another emergency,” Ortt said, according to Fox. “The crisis in cities across our state today directly correlates with the passage of the disastrous bail and other criminal justice ‘reforms,’ an out-of-control parole board that has released countless murderers and other dangerous criminals, and calls by Democrats to defund our police.”
Indeed, Democrats who gave themselves emergency powers during the pandemic have made it clear they don’t want to give up those powers. We’ve seen Democrats like Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot declare racism a “public health crisis.” Suddenly, everything is a public health crisis if it gives Democrats more power over people’s lives.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.