New York lawmakers agreed to pass the toughest gun control law in the nation and the first since the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, and now dare other states and Washington to follow.
Acting just a month after the Connecticut school shootings, President Obama will unveil a sweeping package of gun controls Wednesday and will challenge Congress to ban high-capacity magazines and military-style semi-automatic rifles involved in recent shooting rampages.
New York's Assembly on Tuesday easily passed the toughest gun control law in the nation and the first since the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, calling for a tougher assault weapons ban and provisions to try to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill who make threats.
!["I think the message out there is clear after [the Newton, Conn., school shootings] and to get us down this road as quickly as possible to basically eradicate assault weapons from our streets in New York as quickly as possible is something the people of our state want," said New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. (Associated Press)](http://media.washtimes.com/media/image/2013/01/14/gun_control_ny_mugshot_four_by_three_s101x76.jpg?38f271e3d49cdfd5d0ef8cac5cad23b117d14f23)
Only days after calling for an overhaul of gun control in New York in the aftermath of the Connecticut school shootings, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said a tough proposal on gun control was ready to become law.
As Congress takes up the second slice of relief money for Superstorm Sandy, the influential Club for Growth said Monday it will seek to punish the lawmakers who support the $51 billion package because it includes wasteful spending and pork that have nothing to do with reconstruction efforts in the Northeast.
With nearby states cashing in but environmentalists and Hollywood stars urging him to back off, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is running out of time to decide whether his state will join the natural-gas fracking boom.
Anti-gun politicians are wasting no time while the Newtown, Conn., school shootings are still fresh in Americans' minds. The White House task force on gun violence will issue recommendations on Tuesday, and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said President Obama might bypass Congress and implement unpopular gun-control measure through executive orders.
President Obama underwent a fitness test at a Pentagon health clinic over the weekend as part of a periodic medical exam coordinated by his doctor.
Conservatives and watchdog groups are mounting a "not-so-fast" campaign against a $50.7 billion Superstorm Sandy aid package that Northeastern governors and lawmakers hope to push through the House this coming week.
