This is Bill Nojay, my Republican New York State Assemblyman, former right-wing radio personality, and teabagging jackass. Bill is on the floor of the Assembly with a legitimate beef: the New York State SAFE Act, which regulates assault weapons, was jammed through the Assembly at the last minute and it has some stupid provisions. I have a couple of Democratic gun-owning friends who are pretty pissed about it, because it mandates seven-round magazines that you can’t get for a whole bunch of guns, which essentially makes them illegal. It also was poorly written and could be construed to cover cops, which it shouldn’t. All in all, it was the usual hash from one of the most dysfunctional legislative bodies in the nation, and the magazine provision in particular makes it very hard for gun owners to determine if they’ll be following the law when it goes into effect on April 15. So it needs to be clarified by amendment, or perhaps a court will strike it down.
Of course, if Nojay stood up on the Assembly floor and made those points, he wouldn’t be the subject of a post on Maddowblog. He went on to say this:
Let me state what the reaction has been to this act once the people north of the Bronx, and with the exception of the People’s Republic and certain other little hotspots of Upstate, the rest of us have demanded that our elected county clerks will not administer this law. Our sheriffs, elected by the people, will not enforce this law. Our juries, who are the people, will not convict under this law. And our citizens, being free citizens and not subjects, will not obey this law.
By “People’s Republic”, he means Tompkins County, which contains Ithaca, home of Cornell and a lot of hippies. (It don’t mean a thing if you can’t punch a hippie.) But that last part is the topper. I’ve heard some grumbling, but nobody is upset enough to make sheriffs and county clerks ignore the law. I’m sure I’m not the only voter who will be goddamed if I’ll ever vote for a clerk or sheriff who wouldn’t enforce a law passed by the Assembly and signed by the Governor. And as for the jury, judges are also elected out here, and I’ll be similarly goddammed if I vote for a judge who wouldn’t set aside a verdict by a jury that willfully ignores the law.
My presence in Bill’s district is due to an act of gerrymandering-his district is full of rural Republicans, and my Democratic suburb was added in because New York has a lot more urban and suburban Democrats than rural Republicans. Bill would be yakking on the radio without having a district with boundaries that defy reason. Instead, he’s advocating jury nullification and rebellion by elected officials who are sworn to uphold the law. That’s how low New York Republicans have fallen.
eastriver
I live upstate, but not THAT upstate. Sheesh. You guys sound like hillbillies up there.
the Conster
Shorter Nojay: FREEDUMB!
comrade scott's agenda of rage
That’s a triple negative. Or tripley redundant.
Just another example that rurl Repups are the same all over, matters not if you’re in Bumfuck New York, Bumfuck Alabama, etc., etc. It’s a state of mind, not a place.
MattR
IANAL, but doesn’t jury nullification give them the right not to convict because they don’t believe the law is just. Also, I am pretty sure a trial judge is not allowed to overturn a not guilty finding by the jury (though he is allowed to reverse a guilty finding)
Pap Finn
Just goes to show that being a lawless, Neo-Confederate savage (aka a Republican in the age of Obama) is not a strictly geographical thing…
scav
There are more calls for law enforcement not to enforce laws that certain individuals don’t like than are entirely comfortable — seem to be a lot in the SW, some even from the sheriffs themselves. Even small numbers are off-putting.
Pap Finn
…and bartender, put a refreshing carbonated beverage on my tab for Comrade Scott, won’t you? :)
ranchandsyrup
Oh geez. A good friend is very close with the daughter of the Sheriff in Greeley, CO who is preemptively refusing to enforce gun control legislation there. Was at dinner and she was going on an on about how awesome and brave that is. I tried and completely failed at gently disabusing her of that notion ’cause I’m a mean old libtard. http://news.yahoo.com/colo-sheriff-refuses-enforce-gun-control-bills-024608155.html
jrg
OT, but we’re rocking some statewide douchebaggery here in NC, too.
Apparently we should start filing for divorce 2 years before we want one… Or maybe if we go the gender re-assignment route, Republicans would allow us to go ahead without the enhanced state-required waiting period.
Small gubbermunt! Wheeee!
ETA: Bj is horking up my link: http://www.wral.com/senate-bill-would-make-it-harder-to-untie-knot-in-nc/12291236/
John M. Burt
IANAL either, but I think Matt R is correct that judges can’t “set aside” the jury’s verdict. That’s one of the things we have trial by jury for.
Unfortunately, prosecutors and judges routinely instruct jurors not to consider whether the law is just, and must confine themselves to “the facts of the case”. They all know good and well that jurors are empowered to assess “the facts and the law”, but they say it anyway. I have even heard of judges threatening counsel for the defense with contempt for daring to read to the jurors the law as it appears on the books.
I am not aware that county clerks or sheriffs have any such latitude, though . . . .
Roger Moore
@ranchandsyrup:
Forget it Jake, it’s Weld County. Maybe enough of the local Latino immigrants will become citizens to vote out jackasses like that, but Greeley is going to be stuck with idiots like that until then.
mistermix
@MattR:
@John M. Burt:
I lined that out – over excitement on my part.
Walker
Wow. He actually called us People’s Republic out loud. But then he isn’t our representative.
Higgs Boson's Mate
More teabaggery; Rick Santorum explains the cause of the gay marriage debate at CPAC 2013.
ranchandsyrup
@Roger Moore: I had to work up in Greeley for a 9 month stint way back when. Got to where I could tell the difference between the sugar beet, rendering and stockyard stenches. I did enjoy Potato Brumbaugh’s restaurant, though.
True enough re: the peculiarities of lovely Weld County.
c u n d gulag
Just goes to prove what I’ve been saying my whole life, that rural Upstate NYers are just like Mississippians, just with colder weather in the winter, and no support structure – beyond other rural upstate yahoo’s.
Roger Moore
@jrg:
FTA:
So he might add some language that allowed abused spouses to move out during the mandatory 2 year waiting period for a divorce. How amazingly generous of him.
MikeJ
@scav:
The pro-dope people are certainly joining in.
Just Some Fuckhead
Wingnuts is wingnuts. They are everywhere, just more concentrated in some areas.
Suffern ACE
Well at least those New York Independent Democrats have shown the way to lead us out of our interminable corruption. Oh, wait. One of them was arrested for bribery today. Nevermind.
Roger Moore
@ranchandsyrup:
Well, I grew up in Loveland, so perhaps I should try removing the log from my own eye before commenting too much about the mote in my brother’s. OTOH, I moved away to the Left Coast when I got a chance.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
FTFY
Cacti
@MattR:
Judges can set aside a jury verdict to convict, though they rarely do so. They cannot set aside an acquittal.
Waynski
@ranchandsyrup: I did a semester at UNC. I remember the Greeley stench well. Heard they got rid of the feed lot though.
Waynski
@ranchandsyrup: I did a semester at UNC. I remember the Greeley stench well. Heard they got rid of the feed lot though.
kindness
Isn’t that the crossing of the Taint?
HelloRochester
Yeah, Pittsford and Dansville- what more could they have in common?
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@Waynski:
Ah, good ole University of No Credit.
That’s what we called it as students at CU-Boulder, aka Berkeley of the Rockies.
Or as we called Weld County (and places like it): The godforsakeneasternplainsofColorado. Godforsaken in so many ways.
Chris
I have to admit that I really don’t give a shit about the rights of people to own guns. Any guns. Or whether those rights are getting stepped on.
I’d be happy if liberals could actually sit down and talk rationally with people across the aisle about finding a common sense solution that makes the streets safer without screwing over every gun owner. But that’s never going to happen, because the other side is controlled by people who refuse to even consider things as basic as handgun registration (they want you to register in order to vote, but not to own a deadly weapon. Sure. Makes all kinds of sense). Since it’s unlikely to impossible that we’ll ever have the opportunity to deal in good faith with the pro-gun side, I’ll take whatever victories I can get.
Trollhattan
On the gun-fondler topic, just saw this roundup of covers from the NRA’s magazine. They’re actually a worse organization than I’d imagined, and I have a pretty fertile imagination.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/04/nra_magazine_covers.php?ref=fpblg
“Just an education organization, doing it ‘for the kids.'”
scav
@MikeJ: Not as though that changes the statement. Selfish, impatient, self-indulgent and whiney toddlers come in all stripes. but it’s more amusing watching the whighty-tighty law and order religious frilly-knicker brigade calling for ignoring the rule of law and all that inconvenient and stupid history stuff, especially while whinging about their high and pure moral grounds to be crap to everyone else because of the Cons-Tit-Tooooo-Shun and ReeeLig-ous FFRrEeeeedumz!
Chris
@c u n d gulag:
I think “urban vs rural” replaced “North vs South” a long time ago as the geographical dividing line in our nation.
That’s not how it was at the time of the Civil War. There was plenty of abolitionist sentiment among rural Northerners, and even pro-Union sentiment among rural mountain state Southerners. And, on the flip side, quite a bit of opposition to the war that was based in the cities, both from rich merchants who did business with the South, and poor Irish immigrants who were used as cannon fodder in the war. Somewhere along the line, though, “rural” became synonymous with “conservative” and “urban” with “progressive.”
Cacti
Also too, in the heat of their sheriff fetish, the wingnuts seem to be getting confused about the principles of federalism.
A state or local law enforcement agency can’t be commandeered to enforce federal laws or regulations. However, sheriffs are very much bound by the State laws where their jurisdiction resides.
I’d even venture that it could be grounds for impeachment for a State assemblymen to encourage County officials not to enforce laws duly enacted by the State legislature.
ranchandsyrup
@Roger Moore: Good old Loveland. The Sweetheart City.
@Waynski: The Monfort/conagra one? Interesting.
ruemara
FTFY
catclub
@Trollhattan: Motto stolen from NAMBLA?
SatanicPanic
Won’t the gun manufacturers adjust their magazine sizes? It can’t be all that hard.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@SatanicPanic:
They can increase the height of the magazine follower (The bit that sits on top of the magazine’s spring). That’s a relatively trivial thing to accomplish.
I’m still trying to figure out when the 2nd Amendment was reworded to “… the right of the people to keep and bear magazine-fed semiautomatic weapons, shall not be infringed.”
scav
@SatanicPanic: But it interfers slightly with their expected profit and shareholders can’t be expected to bear that unendurable trauma!
Trollhattan
@catclub:
Good one! Between the purple prose and the hot mess of the cover design and graphics, I could imagine the whole thing being done by Liberace. Surely, somewhere they could find a competent yet sociopath graphic design and layout person?
Roger Moore
@ranchandsyrup:
Spoken like somebody who didn’t live there. Loveland has just enough artists and HP employees to make it liveable, but it definitely has more than its share of wingnuts.
SatanicPanic
@scav: but, free market? No? doesn’t apply here? nevermind
Cassidy
Waitaminute? So if two people are married, but decide to divorce and thye have to wait two years to do so, but they seperate….WHO’s TO STOP THEM FROM TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE BENEFITS OF MARRIAGE! They’ll still file taxes and get EIC and Child Tax Credits! They’ll be abusing the system of marriage. For shame!
ranchandsyrup
@Roger Moore: Heh. Didn’t live there but did some work for the City. Have some wingunt family members that live there so I completely agree with your description. I just thought that was an odd motto for that city. Never did get around to why it came to pass.
Catherine D.
@Walker: O’Mara ain’t no prize either.
burnspbesq
As a former resident of the Democratic Republic of Schenectady, I deeply resent not being tarred with the same brush that this idjit reserves for Ithaca.
Epicurus
Another moron elected to public office. Quelle surprise.
Central Planning
@HelloRochester:
How about water from Hemlock Lake?
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
I always thought that was the point. Like how the new ND abortion law requires vaginal ultrasound without explicitly saying so. Besides, if there is demand for a 7 round whatever, then the free market will provide it.
Honus
@SatanicPanic: Yes, much like you put wooden dowel in a shotgun magazine to reduce the capacity. It’s easy, simple and cheap.
Honus
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: I’m still trying to find “self defense” and “armed resistance to authority” in the second amendment.
Walker
@Catherine D.:
The assemblywoman is Barbara Lifton. There is nothing wrong with her.
It is the state senator for the area (Nozzolio) that is the problem.
HelloRochester
@Central Planning: Hemlock Lake is the pool of magic from whence flows America’s favorite carbonated laxative, Genee Cream Ale, so don’t hate.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Honus:
They are there. You just have to change some of the letters around.
The real genius of the founding fathers was to include in the brief text of the second amendment every letter except J,Q,V,X and Z.
Even without these letters, you can make damn near every word you want.
A Ghost To Most
@c u n d gulag:
I totally agree. Fun geographic fact: Rochester sits just north of the Alabama Swamp.
Denali
Thanks for alerting me to this ridiculous speeh. I have emailed Bill NoJay because I know he cares so much about what I think.
Talabama
@Honus: But at that point it’s just feel good legislation to look like you’re doing something. Removing a dowel or replacing a follower is a trivial task if you need to convert it back to a standard capacity magazine. Plus the VTech shooter proved the intended effect of mag capacity limits can be easily circumvented by packing a backpack full of 10 rounders.
loudly proclaiming you aren’t going to enforce the law is pretty dumb, but cops and prosecutors exercise discretion all the time. I really doubt anyone would get hauled in on these dumb laws alone, they’d have to do something to warrant the attention.
Catherine D.
@Walker: The People’s Republic is divided among three state senate districts, probably for fear of patchouli bombs. O’Mara represents my piece, as does the douche Reed in Congress.