1/9/13 – ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — During his State of the State address on Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo made an impassioned plea to the Legislature to ignore pressure from the gun lobby and end the madness of gun violence. He sought the toughest gun laws in the nation. He admitted he’s a gun owner himself and said he doesn’t want to stop hunters and others from owning weapons, but Cuomo tried to shame the Legislature into action with a passionate speech on gun violence, CBS 2′s Marcia Kramer reported.

“I say to you forget the extremists. It’s simple — no one hunts with an assault rifle. No one needs 10 bullets to kill a deer and too many people have died already,” Cuomo said.
The governor tried — and failed — to get the Legislature to agree to a gun control plan in time for Wednesday’s State of the State message. Instead, he laid out an ambitious plan for making New York the national leader in keeping guns out of the hands of those who would do violence.

“End the madness now. Pass safe, reasonable gun control in the State of New York. Make this state safer. Save lives. Set an example for the rest of the nation. Let them look at New York and say this is what you can do. This is what you should do,” Cuomo said.

The governor proposed legislation to:

* Tighten the assault weapons ban

* Ban all large-capacity gun clips, some that hold 100 rounds

* Increase penalties for those who illegally buys guns, use guns on school property and who use guns in violence and drug-related gang activity

“This is New York, the progressive capital. You show them how we lead,” Cuomo said.

Andrew Cuomo – Caricature (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)