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As New York Democrats propose cracking down on gun trafficking amid a crime wave, the areas state senator has a different proposal.

Sen. George Borrello, R-Chautauqua County, is sponsoring a bill implementing a Stand Your Ground law in New York, which would remove the legal duty to retreat from a threat outside the home before using lethal force, as well as granting immunity in criminal and civil cases.

Every one of us has a fundamental right to self-defense. But in practice, the right to self-defense is limited to our homes in New York, Borrello said in a news release Thursday announcing the legislation. The duty to retreat clause, requires New Yorkers to retreat from a violent aggressor when in public before they can defend themselves and their loved ones. The only place a New Yorker is not required to retreat from a violent criminal is when they are inside their homes.

Does that make any sense?, Borrello added. Who would allow themselves to be shot or stabbed before they can take action to defend their lives?

The bill would make defenders immune from criminal and civil liability for use of a weapon in self defense from brandishing a firearm to dissuade an attacker to homicide.

You look at surveys right now, and people dont feel safe people are concerned, Borrello told the Times Herald, noting crime across the state has increased over the past two years.

Borrello said a 2018 shooting in Ellicottville is a prime example of how the law would help New Yorkers defending their lives.

In 2018, Damien Marvin was charged with assault after claiming he shot a man after he was attacked. Marvin was acquitted at trial after a 45-minute deliberation. A civil lawsuit filed in 2019 by the man who was shot ended in an undisclosed settlement in 2021, according to court records.

Here is a guy that was acquitted criminally, but then had to defend himself in a civil case, Borrello said, having to pay a high price for a legal defense. If Stand Your Ground was in place specifically the immunity for civil torts Borrello said he likely would have not have had to endure that civil lawsuit.

The bill has four cosponsors all Republicans. Democrats control 43 seats in the 63-seat chamber, as well as the lower Assembly and the governors office, so the measure faces an uphill climb in Albany.

A similar bill introduced in the 2019-20 legislative session which Borrello co-sponsored died in committee.

Borrello acknowledged the difficulty he faces to pass the bill, but he said the focus should be on gauging the positions of government leaders.

You should be able to ask your legislators their position, he said, noting it is an election year for the Legislature and governor and important for voters to know where officials stand on such issues.

Blocking Stand Your Ground legislation is another example, Borrello accused, of Democrats in Albany protecting criminals over victims, like with the elimination of cash bail for most low-level offenses in 2019 legislation that was partially rolled back in 2020 to allow bail for more charges.

Borrello and other Republicans have been critical of bail reform going into the 2022 election, noting some high-profile repeat offenders have been charged multiple times between their first arrest and adjudication. In addition, they argue the legislation blocks judges from considering risk to the community in their determination of bail.

While most states have Stand Your Ground laws in place, six other states require those being attacked to attempt to retreat before using lethal force outside the home. In-home defense is traditionally covered under the castle doctrine of common law. Three states expand the castle doctrine to home and workplaces, while Wisconsin also extends it to motor vehicles.

The National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups have lobbied for Stand Your Ground legislation in many states with Republican-controlled legislatures, including a push in Arkansas that led to its enactment in 2021. Democrats and anti-gun groups, such as the Giffords Center to Prevent Gun Violence, portray such legislation as making it easier to get away with murder, or referring to the proposals as Make My Day or Shoot First bills.

The RAND Corp., a nonprofit think tank, reported in 2020 that a review of existing scientific studies there is supportive evidence that Stand Your Ground laws increase firearms homicides both justified and unjustified with inconclusive evidence on impacts on suicides, mass shootings, defensive gun use or gun industry outcomes.

Borrello dismissed the concern.

Im not going to stand here and talk about studies when you have a fundamental right to self defense, he said, adding that restricting the Second Amendment rights of New Yorkers outside the home is wrong, and that is what this law would correct.

Originally posted here:
Borrello: Stand Your Ground is 'a fundamental right' - Olean Times Herald

In this handout photo provided by the Shelby County Detention Center, former Louisville, Kentucky detective Brett Hankison poses for a mug shot on September 23, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky. | Source: Handout / Getty

The upcoming criminal trial for a former police detective involved in the deadly raid that killed Breonna Taylor even though he wasnt charged for killing Breonna Taylor will be partially open to the press, a Kentucky judge ruled Thursday.

The ruling againstBrett Hankison, who was fired from the Louisville Metro Police department after botching the execution of a no-knock search warrant on an apartment misidentified as where a suspect was located, was meant to ensure a fair judicial process, Circuit Judge Ann Bailey Smith said in her ruling Thursday, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Smith had one caveat: No members of the press can have cameras in the courtroom during the jury selection process. However, those proceedings will still be open to the media.

Jurors will individually take the witness stand and submit to questioning by counsel, a process that is inherently intimidating to a lay person, Smith wrote in part of her ruling. The court finds that jurors will be likely to be less intimidated by this process, and therefore more likely to be candid in their responses, if they know there is no possibility that the general public and the media present at the proceeding have the ability to broadcast or otherwise record their testimony.

Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, poses for a portrait in front of a mural of her daughter at Jefferson Square Park on September 21, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky. | Source: Brandon Bell / Getty

Her decision delivers a setback to Hankison, who in September 2020 was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree for bullets he fired that did not go into Taylors apartment. Hankisons legal team had filed the motion for a media ban as well as another one for a change of venue, the latter on which has not been decided.

A grand jury did not find enough evidence to charge any of the three officers as it directly related to Taylors killing in a disappointment to people calling for justice to be served in the 26-year-olds death.

The office of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who has defended the criminal charges against Hankison, was among those who opposed the proposed media ban, the Associated Press reported. Cameron emerged as a contemptuous figure in the Black community because of his perceived initial lack of attention to the case and showing more sympathy for the police than for Taylor and her family.

Early in the morning of March 13, 2020, a group of Louisville police officers descended upon Taylors apartment to execute a search warrant for a suspect who was later determined to have already been in police custody. When Taylors boyfriend,Kenneth Walker, heard noise at the front door and suspected a burglar, he retrieved his legal gun and fired a shot in that direction out of self-defense, unwittingly hitting one of the officers while exercising the states stand your ground law. The copsresponded by blindly firing off a hail of bullets, ultimately killing Taylor who, prior to the shooting, had been sleeping.

Police never recovered any drugs after attempting to conduct the search warrant in connection to an investigation around Taylors ex-boyfriend,Jamarcus Glover.Walker was quickly accused of the attempted murder of a police officer, charges that were ultimately dropped nearly one year later.

Jury selection in Hankisons case begins Tuesday.

SEE ALSO:

After Sabotaging Breonna Taylor Case, Daniel Cameron Wants Kentucky To Be National Model For Search Warrants

Daniel Sellout Cameron Is Trying To Overturn Unlawful Mask Mandate For Kids In Kentucky Schools

Read more:
In Setback For Ex-Cop Who Fired Blindly Into Breonna Taylors Home, His Upcoming Trial Will Be Partially Open To The Press - NewsOne

Rep. Josh Gottheimer is the latest addition to the Democrats list of House members who could face tough re-election campaigns as polls show Republicans with an edge in this falls midterm elections.

Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., became the fourth New Jersey Democratic representative more than any other state on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees Frontline program, which provides extra help for incumbents expected to be in tight races.

This is in large part a reaction to the gubernatorial election and closer-than-expected result there, said Jacob Rubaskin, an analyst with Inside Elections, which rated the district as solid Democratic.

Thats when Gov. Phil Murphy defeated Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli in a race that was not called until the following day. Ciattarelli outpolled Murphy in Gottheimers old 5th District.

Im focused on one thing: fighting for the families of the 5th District, Gottheimer said.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman James Singer said the decision to include Gottheimer was made on internal DCCC criteria. Gottheimer was one of seven people added.

Rep. Gottheimer has been a bipartisan leader who has represented New Jersey with distinction and we look forward to working with him to win this district again, he said.

Under the new map approved by the states independent redistricting commission, Gottheimer will be running in more friendly terrain come November. In addition, he is one of the Houses formidable fundraisers, having banked $11 million for his re-election entering October.

It takes more than close gubernatorial election to make a race competitive, Rubashkin said. If things are really terrible for Democrats, could this district become more competitive? At the moment, we just havent seen that yet.

But National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Samantha Bullock called Gottheimer one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country because hes failed to deliver for his district.

Former investment banker Frank Pallotta, who lost to Gottheimer in 2020; businessman Fred Schneiderman, who has former Donald Trump campaign manager and New Jersey native Kellyanne Conway working for him; and Marine Corps veteran Nick De Gregorio are seeking the Republican nomination.

In a recent Monmouth University Poll, 35% of Americans said theyd rather see Republicans control Congress, compared with 33% who chose the Democrats. And just 39% approved of President Joe Bidens performance in office with 54% disapproving.

Democrats are spooked and they have good reason to be, Rubashkin said. If this race truly is one of the Democrats most vulnerable, they are in a world of trouble.

Also on the House Democratic list are 3rd Dist. Rep. Andy Kim, 7th Dist. Rep. Tom Malinowski and 11th Dist. Rep. Mikie Sherrill.

Kim and Sherrill also got friendlier districts for 2022 while Malinowski did not. The map is being challenged in court by the Republican commission members.

After the new districts were drawn, Kim and Sherrill were rated as safe bets for re-election while Inside Elections called Malinowskis race a tossup and the Cook Political Report gave the Republicans an edge in that district.

Those three and Gottheimer all are on the House Republicans target list. The NRCC also announced it was going after the four Democrats in 2020 but fielded only one strong challenger, then-state Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr., R-Union, who barely lost to Malinowski.

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.

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Democrats concede this N.J. congressman could be in trouble. Is it a warning sign for Biden midterm? - NJ.com

The TAKE with Rick Klein

On this they see eye to eye: President Joe Biden says he's not Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Sanders says he's not Biden.

That may be as far as agreements take the Democratic Party for now -- even though the Biden and Sanders wings of the party have been working in lockstep in recent months. Different Democrats see different threats from different foes, both inside and outside their party, with implications for policy or the lack thereof.

In Arizona, the fallout from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's vote to keep Senate rules intact now includes a formal censure from the state Democratic executive committee. Her fellow Democrats over the weekend approved that move while citing what they call "her failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy."

Sen. Bernie Sanders responds to questions from reporters before a meeting with Democrats at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 18, 2022.

Sanders says he is fed up as well, telling CNN on Sunday that Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., "have sabotaged the president's effort to address the needs of working families." Sanders also said that Democrats have "failed politically" over the past six months, and his solution in part is to bring up repeated votes to put his colleagues on the record "and let Manchin and Sinema decide which side they are on."

Biden also has said he wants to break down his Build Back Better bill into "chunks," but his inclination is more toward cutting compromises that all Democratic senators, starting with Manchin, will back. Then there is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is discouraging attacks on fellow Democrats though she is also skeptical of the approach of breaking Build Back Better into component parts.

Toward the end of his news conference last week, Biden said it's clear to him that the public doesn't want a "president-senator": "They want me to be the president and let senators be senators," he said.

Letting the Senate be the Senate hasn't worked of late, though. It has Democrats looking at themselves when it comes to confronting challenges in the second year of Biden's presidency.

The RUNDOWN with Averi Harper

In defense of restrictive voting legislation in Republican-led states, GOP lawmakers often cite even stricter voting procedures in some Democratic states, but the argument is flawed.

On ABC's "This Week," Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, reiterated the talking point when discussing sweeping voting legislation in her home state with co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

"I will also say that even with those changes in [Iowa's] law, our voting election systems are much more liberal than President Joe Biden's home state of Delaware, as well as Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's home state of New York," said Ernst.

Sen. Joni Ernst speaks during a press conference following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, Jan. 19, 2022 in Washington, DC.

To properly evaluate if a state is making changes that restrict access to the ballot box, one must look at the history of access in that specific state.

For example, since the passage of the state's sweeping elections law last year, Iowa now only has 20 days of early voting -- down from 29 days. Before the passage of a 2017 voter ID law, the state offered 40 days of early voting. The number of early voting days in other states is a red herring.

The crux of the argument in favor of restrictive voting legislation has been that it makes voting "more secure," though many Republicans have struggled to articulate how exactly these measures do that.

"Well, it is the same level of security," said Ernst when asked by Raddatz how these changes make voting more secure. Ernst later suggested changing the number of early voting days in her home state was part of an effort to keep polling locations staffed.

The TIP with Alisa Wiersema

Rep. Henry Cuellar is continuing with his reelection campaign for Texas' 28th Congressional District against the backdrop of a federal grand jury probe.

As reported by ABC's Mike Levine, federal officials have begun issuing subpoenas, seeking records related to the congressman, his wife and at least one of his campaign staffers. An attorney representing Cuellar, Joshua Berman, told ABC News that "the congressman and his family are fully cooperating" with the investigation. On Wednesday, FBI agents raided Cuellar's home and campaign office.

Rep. Henry Cuellar speaks during a press conference at the southern border at the Humanitarian Respite Center, July 19, 2019, in McAllen, Texas.

Those developments, paired with a competitive primary season, appear to be giving progressives hope of seeing an upset in the south Texas contest. Cuellar's top competitor, Jessica Cisneros, came within four points of winning the Democratic primary in 2020 and is heading into 2022 with the backing of heavyweight progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Cuellar's political success is largely centered on being one of the few lawmakers publicly willing to work across the aisle. But with the nation's first primary election just weeks away, progressives could look at the race as a bellwether for potential primary upsets elsewhere.

THE PLAYLIST

ABC News' "Start Here" Podcast. Monday's Start Here begins with the economy. ABC's Deirdre Bolton breaks down how COVID-19 is affecting the IRS and disrupting the stock market. Then, ABC's Patrick Reevell details the escalating tensions in Ukraine. And, ABC's Sabina Ghebremedhin describes how an investigation into a young Black woman's death has inspired social media outcry. http://apple.co/2HPocUL

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Download the ABC News app and select "The Note" as an item of interest to receive the day's sharpest political analysis.

The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the day's top stories in politics. Please check back Tuesday for the latest.

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Democrats turn on each other as Biden agenda stalls: The Note - ABC News

Like many scholars of democracy, I have strongly supported both the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. Both are necessary (though not sufficient) to secure the most precious rights in any democracy the right to vote and the right to have ones vote counted fairly and accurately.

Most supporters of these bills believed the urgent need for them justified lifting the Senate filibuster and passing them on a purely partisan vote. But with the refusal of Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (or any Republican senators) to vote to suspend the filibuster, its clear that these bills will not pass this Congress.

The only remaining option is to pare back the reform cause to a much narrower agenda that can command bipartisan support. Democrats must recognize that politics is the art of the possible, and democratic responsibility demands that we not sacrifice what is valuable and possible on the altar of the unattainable. That means supporting the bipartisan efforts to reform the Electoral Count Act.

This work is now taking shape in bipartisan negotiations among moderate senators convened by Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. The new bill would fix some of the most dangerous vulnerabilities in the 1887 Electoral Count Act some of which we saw in the 2020 election that could enable a future Congress (or a rogue vice president) to reverse the vote of the Electoral College in certain states or to plunge the process of counting electoral votes into such chaos that there would be no way of determining a legitimate winner. Such a deadlock could precipitate a far larger and more violent assault on the democratic order than what we saw on Jan. 6. Reducing the risk of such a calamity is a democratic imperative.

Senator Collinss group is reportedly considering making it much more difficult for Congress to question properly certified state election results, clearly specifying that the vice presidents role in counting the electoral votes is limited, protecting election officials from harassment and intimidation while they carry out their lawful functions and granting states new funding to improve their voting systems.

As the N.Y.U. election law expert Richard Pildes has written, federal election laws from the 19th century (the Presidential Election Day Act and the Electoral Count Act) contain provisions that could offer troubling opportunities for disruption and abuse during a postelection struggle over the presidential vote. The potential for a state legislature to declare a failed election and appoint its own slate of electors must be closed through a reformed law. The danger that postelection litigation could carry on beyond the meeting of the Electoral College can also be addressed by extending the safe harbor date for reporting a states electoral votes from early December until later that month and then postponing the formal Electoral College vote from December until early January (shortly before the Congress convenes to count the electoral votes on Jan. 6).

Mr. Pildes and three other leading electoral law experts from diverse ideological backgrounds recently proposed a reform of the Electoral Count Act that would prevent Congress from questioning a states electoral votes once the state certified them through policies established in advance of the election. If state authorities could not agree on who won their electoral votes, the reformed law should establish a mechanism like a nonpartisan tribunal to resolve the dispute. (In addition, before the safe harbor deadline, there would still be the option of challenging in the courts any state legislative effort to circumvent rules and steal an election.) Angus King, an independent senator from Maine, has also been leading efforts to reform the Electoral Count Act; one focus is to establish a procedure for judicial review of state results if a state failed to follow the procedures it previously prescribed for choosing its electors. This reform would at least remove one pathway to reversing a states legitimate presidential election result.

So far, the Republican leaders of the Senate and House, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, have expressed openness to Electoral Count Act reform. Beyond such a bill, Republican senators such as Mitt Romney have also signaled an openness to considering some reforms on voting rights.

We cant know what might be possible through bipartisan negotiations, but we do know that the Democrats two voting rights bills have not gotten passed this year.

We must embrace the reform we can achieve and continue the fight for the important reform work of the future.

Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior fellow in global democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford. He is the author, most recently, of Ill Winds: Saving Democracy From Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency.

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Opinion | Democrats, Want to Defend Democracy? Embrace What Is Possible. - The New York Times