Good Tuesday morning. We’re still keeping watch over the capital, where the Senate may or may not take up legislation to enact a property tax cap and to legalize same-sex marriage.
Gun safety: Editorial
We encourage Gov. Andrew Cuomo to put his signature on legislation sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale and passed by both houses that bars those convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence from buying or owning a firearm. We write:
… In New York, there were 130 domestic-violence homicides in 2009, more than two-thirds of the cases attributed to intimate partners — typically current or former husbands or boyfriends. The Violence Policy Center, studying crime data nationwide, concluded that there are approximately 10 murder-suicide deaths in the U.S. each week. The most common scenario: an “intimate partner” murder-suicide wherein a woman is the victim — 96 percent of the cases. When women are the killers, they “tend to kill their children and themselves … Men, on the other hand, tend to kill their children, themselves and their intimate partners as well,” with a firearm 94 percent of the time.So there is much urgency in closing — or repairing — the information loop in New York. “Strengthening existing law is critical to supporting New York State’s zero tolerance policy towards domestic violence,” said Chief Executive Director Michele McKeon of the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “If offenders are told that they are prohibited from doing something because of the crimes they commit against their intimate partner or family member, then that prohibition must be enforced.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo should sign the measure into the law at the earliest opportunity.
More opinion
Here’s what our colleagues are saying today:
State’s ethics law needs scrutiny: Editorial, Poughkeepsie Journal
New labor agreements needed before Albany adjourns: Editorial, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Private work, public pension: Editorial, Albany Times Union
Get started on Medicare: Editorial, The Buffalo News
