NY Gov. Hochul Claims 'Executive Power' To Grab Guns & Collect Personal Info

P. Gardner Goldsmith | May 20, 2022
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Acting as both scavenger and bird of prey, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) just announced more potential gun grabs and invasion of privacy/demonization – all based on her “executive” say-so.

As Arjun Singh reports for the National Review, Hochul is using a two-pronged pitchfork in her attack – going after both gun ownership and freedom of thought/expression.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Hochul said that she would sign several executive orders to restrict access to firearms and monitor ‘online extremism.’

Alarm bells ring, of course, not only because she is taking “executive action” as the egocentric government-pushers oft-promote as meaning “serious, fast, meaningful response to a crisis,” but, more importantly, because these actions run contrary to basic human rights and are forbidden by the U.S. Constitution.

Even if Hochul has deferred to the legislature to “pass a law” allowing her to do what she desires, the actions she threatens to take are not allowed under any reading of ethics or the rules of America.

’These include a measure authorizing the New York State Police to seize weapons from any gun owner ‘whenever they have probable cause to believe that an individual is a threat to themselves or others.’

Which requires a pause, to check-in with history and the U.S. Constitution.

The Fourth Amendment does not allow police to search people or their homes and property, or to seize property without a warrant, which is to be publicly issued by a judge. There is no constitutional allowance for police officers to determine “probable cause.” The judge is to determine that threshold, in an open forum.

And, of course, while this still leaves agents of the state in control of deciding whether they, themselves, have “probable cause,” it is, at least, one step removed from active, armed police forces acting without that deliberative check.

The National Review offers more:

She did not give further details about the proposal, and the text of the order, yet to be signed, has not been released. However, she announced it would draw on authority conferred by the state’s ‘Red Flag Law’ passed in 2019, which allows law enforcement to seize weapons when a court issues an Extreme Risk Protection Order against an individual.

This is extrajudicial, completely contrary to not only the Fourth Amendment, but the Fifth (prohibiting the deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law), the Sixth (requiring a jury-trial process, and assuring legal representation in that “due process of law”), the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment (how can someone be punished by the state if he or she has not been proven guilty of a crime?), and the Fourteenth Amendment reiteration that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Hochul graduated from Catholic University Columbus School of Law, and she swore an oath to abide by the U.S. Constitution, so one would hope that she’s read the so-called “rule book.”

And one wonders what Gary J. Willis, of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, would say about this all-out attack on the right to keep and bear arms and right to due process.

Sadly, tragically, Mr. Willis cannot provide an answer, because in 2018, he was killed by police who invaded his home just after 5 a.m., in a Red Flag raid.

And, of course, the state of New York imposed its own Red Flag “law” in 2019 – a statute that did not stop the recent carnage at the Buffalo supermarket. This failure (another “OF COURSE”) is being used by the Governor to “justify” expansion of state power such that the previous, already anti-constitutional “Red Flag” order issued by a judge will be warped to allow police to act unilaterally, then back that claim of “probable cause,” ex post facto.

Would anyone in the Founding Era have stood for this tyranny?

The mindset is pervasive among leftists. Heck, House Democrats tried to impose a national Red Flag statute on vets last year.

Related: Red Flag: Cops Seize Guns Owned By School Crossing Guard - After He Expresses Concern for School Safety | MRCTV

So one wonders which is more intense, their hatred of the US Constitution, or their utter contempt for Natural Rights.

Singh adds:

Hochul also announced that a new ‘Office of Counterterrorism’ would be created within the State Police with an exclusive focus on ‘domestic terrorism,’ which would be required to monitor social media for evidence of violent tendencies and extremist ideology. She added that she would formally refer social media companies to the New York Attorney General Letita James’s office for investigation for failing to stop ‘radicalization’ of users towards ‘white supremacy.’ That afternoon, James announced on Twitter that platforms ‘Twitch, 4chan, 8chan, and Discord’ were under investigation.

The government monitors. The government defines the “bad words.” The government defines “radicalization.”

Remember when the government flunkies in Missouri claimed that folks with “Don’t Tread on Me” and Ron Paul bumper stickers were potential terror threats? Remember when the Biden administration appeared to coordinate with the National School Boards Association to do the same to concerned parents who visit local school meetings?

Perhaps Governor Hochul needs a refresher about those and a great deal more.

And as we see the simultaneous NY Executive attack on rights and the continuing stream of nonsense about social media, posts, and “misinformation,” we also can remind her that gun-rights-attacking statutes don’t stop criminally minded people. They use government guns to threaten innocent, law-abiding folks, while the criminals continue to engage in their crimes.

We might also remind her of the vast historical record showing that the presence of more guns in the hands of peacefully-minded people is strongly correlated with lower crime rates.

Anytime a tragedy-scavenger like Hochul swoops down on a story like this, we can let loose this important information, and fight for truth.

Related: First Two Weeks of New Jersey’s Red Flag Gun Statute: State Went After One Person Per Day | MRCTV

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