Albany, New York, July 7, 2021: On Tuesday, Governor Cuomo of New York issued an executive order declaring a gun violence disaster emergency, the first of its kind in the nation. According to the Governor’s office, this strategy will treat “gun violence as a public health crisis, using short-term solutions to manage the immediate gun violence crisis and reduce the shooting rate, as well as long-term solutions that focus on community-based intervention and prevention strategies to break the cycle of violence.”  

Governor Cuomo has committed nearly $140 million to implement the order, which includes the creation of a new state-level office specifically focused on gun violence, targeting hotspots, and so-called “positive engagement” for at-risk youth. Major police departments in New York will be required by the executive order to cooperate with the new office and its initiatives. 

The Libertarian Party of New York was swift to denounce the Governor’s actions. Cody Anderson, chair of the LPNY, explained: 

“Cuomo’s declaration of a false ‘emergency’ granting himself broad, unilateral powers is meant to throw meat to his base and to do damage control to his own political aspirations,” Anderson explained. “This executive order creates yet another useless, expensive government office at taxpayer expense to reward political cronies, and replaces control by local law enforcement with coerced ‘cooperation’ with central party bureaucrats.
“As he did during the pandemic, Governor Cuomo has once again chosen to rule by executive order,” Anderson continued. “His haphazard implementation of a state of emergency over COVID-19 trampled our freedoms and damaged our state’s economy. By attempting the same tactics with gun violence, the Governor is setting a dangerous precedent that cheapens any future emergency declaration. The State Legislature is equally culpable, passing gun manufacturer liability legislation which emboldened Cuomo to take these actions. Both the Legislature’s continued abdication of power to the Governor, as well as Cuomo’s dictatorial rule, is unacceptable. These most recent measures are another incremental step toward the state’s complete revocation of our natural rights to bear arms and to defend ourselves. This is a cost the citizens of New York state cannot afford, and we must send that message to Albany.”

For more information about the Libertarian Party of New York, please visit lpny.org. You may also visit Facebook at www.facebook.com/LPNYOfficial, Twitter @LPNYOfficial, or Instagram @LPNYOfficial.

The Libertarian Party consistently advocates and fights for open ballot access and voter choice. These efforts can involve anything from protesting and petitioning to testifying before a state legislature. Sometimes though, these battles go to the courts.

We are currently involved in several legal efforts to maintain full ballot access, and also to guarantee fair and equal treatment for third parties. The latter is seen clearly right now in Alabama. In 2019, the Libertarian Party of Alabama filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State for charging them $34,000 for a voter list — the same voter list that the Republicans and Democrats are given for free. The state sought a dismissal that was refused, and now after much effort from the state party, a date has been set for oral arguments. On August 24, 2021, a judge will hear from the Libertarian Party’s counsel and from the State’s counsel. We look forward to hearing the State defend that third parties should be saddled with extra onerous fees while the Libertarian Party defends equal and fair treatment under the law.

In Minnesota, the Libertarian Party is pushing back against long-standing attempts to interfere with ballot access. In June the Libertarian Party of Minnesota argued against the requirement for petition signatures to sign an oath that is unnecessary and confusing and can cause people to worry about supporting additional options of the ballot. While the state party has put in the work over and over again to successfully secure ballot access, both the requirements and the window of time to complete them are clearly used to hinder alternative parties from being on the ballot. We will continue to shine a light on these bad faith attempts and fight them until we are victorious.

From state to state, legal battles continue. The old parties have no new tricks, but they do still have the upper hand of the power to write laws and the money to defend those laws in court, no matter how antithetical to freedom and democracy they may be. No matter their advantage, we will not be stopped. You can help fund our legal efforts across the country and guarantee that when the powerful seek to remove any competition, they will not do so without a fight.