Seems the folks in upstate NY are armed

Couldn't find the context behind this picture but it was on a local forum, 7 months prior regarding the governor's race.


For contrast, here's The Obama Election heat map for NY.

It's an uphill battle sometimes but even though NY is considered "Blue" it's not for lack of trying by the other portions of the state lol

I'll have to agree on what many are saying and I wish we had a way of turning the political tide. I think of what I've seen in states like NY, Ill, CA that have entrenched freedom sucking political machines in power but good decent people trying to get by within the system.
Reading about the signs in NYS reminded me of the handmade Jefferson signs that are all over Northern CA. and passing through Southern ILL. and knowing that there is nothing but an imaginary line and a river separating them from their neighbors but they may as well be on the moon.
There have been some gains and IA, MN have been some of the more impressive ones in recent years and ILL. has finally allowed CC.
Fact is the big population centers do have great bearing on election outcomes, no more apparent than in my home state of CO.

Anyone who feels badly for non-NYC residents should feel even worse for those in IL.

99 out of 102 counties voted against Quinn in the 2010 election AND he still won, carrying only 3 counties. In 2014, he carried only C(r)ook county -- lost by just 5% of the popular vote.

It's safe to say, most rural people are armed. I believe this is mostly an urban vs rural issue......it just so happens that urban people vote away their freedoms and for a particular party.

"I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe." - Thomas Jefferson

2010 Governor's Race


2014 Governor's Race

I think if people want to change the gun culture they need to look at states like Iowa and Minnesota and figure out what came about politically to have them turn from fairly restrictive states to very liberal states with regards to handguns and personal carry. They both had CC laws dating back decades but had many restrictions and were may issue at best.
Now I see MN. has allowed Silencers and Iowa had it in the works.
I don't have a problem with incrementalism in changing gunlaws but big polar shifts are much more desirable when they work in our favor.

Careful what one wishes for. Without the taxes paid to the state's general fund by the residents of NYC, upstate New York's financial picture becomes very bleak. Upstaters complain about their high taxes, but if they had to fund their infrastructure and schools without NYC's largesse, they'd be in a world of hurt.

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You must be from the city. I heard this same statement 30 years ago. Ask upstaters the same question and they'll say that they pay for NYC. The infrastructure in NYC likely costs as much as the rest of the state. They have subways. All utilities are underground and underground power costs 10 times as much as overhead. I'll grant that the taxes from the financial district may make a big difference, though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by shotgunjoel View Post
"Careful what one wishes for. Without the taxes paid to the state's general fund by the residents of NYC, upstate New York's financial picture becomes very bleak. Upstaters complain about their high taxes, but if they had to fund their infrastructure and schools without NYC's largesse, they'd be in a world of hurt."

Ok...You must be kidding! I live in Ithaca, NY and I have lived in western MA ( I know��). No one who lives in these places think for a second that there is a net movement of capital from the cities to the country. Quite the reverse, the people in the country believe they are ignored by the city folk, who have the political clout to ensure that more money is spent for programs and infrastructure in the cities. On top of that the people who live AWAY from the cities have rules (SAFE Act, etc) and mandates that they would never come up with themselves that limit and control their environments and lives...and no, people who live in the 'city' don't know better.

I wish those folks well. I admit that I was surprised to hear some of the citizens in the area of the prison break admit on camera that they had firearms, some even carrying them. I understand that upstate is not NYC, but I suspect there's still some restrictions, taken seriously by the "authorities", on what type of firearms the good people in that area are allowed, where firearms can be possessed, how people can possess them,i.e., unloaded, cased, locked on the trunk, not carried openly, not carried concealed, how many rounds can be loaded into them,etc? Anyway, hope some state trooper doesn't arrest and charge someone on a NY felony for some technical violation......

BTW, I live in the northern part of my county. Lat I heard, we pay ~87% of the county's budget. Unfortunately for us, the county seat and center of political power is in the Southern ( Democratic ) part of the county. It has not been my experience that money flows from the seat of political power to rural areas with much less political clout.......ymmv

Rock185 said:

I wish those folks well. I admit that I was surprised to hear some of the citizens in the area of the prison break admit on camera that they had firearms, some even carrying them. I understand that upstate is not NYC, but I suspect there's still some restrictions, taken seriously by the "authorities", on what type of firearms the good people in that area are allowed, where firearms can be possessed, how people can possess them,i.e., unloaded, cased, locked on the trunk, not carried openly, not carried concealed, how many rounds can be loaded into them,etc? Anyway, hope some state trooper doesn't arrest and charge someone on a NY felony for some technical violation......

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There seems to be some perception here that living in NY is like living in a gulag. NYS has a strong firearms history, several of the the top brands were manufactured here. With the Catskill and Adirondack areas, some of the best deer and bear hunting anywhere. Second only to PA for biggest deer yield in the country.

The SAFE Act has imposed restrictions, but there is still a thriving gun culture there. Lots of gun ownership, which aside from the restrictions, include most types of weapons. Lots of hunters and gun owners reside in NYC.

I doubt the repeated slurs against their state are helpful or appreciated.

When I can visit NYS and at least have a handgun with me in the car or motel as I travel I will believe in their vibrant gun culture, until then they are IMO in a Gulag and given what freedoms their keepers allow.

No doubt Cuomo is hard at work "fixing" that "problem"...

X-Rap said:

When I can visit NYS and at least have a handgun with me in the car or motel as I travel I will believe in their vibrant gun culture, until then they are IMO in a Gulag and given what freedoms their keepers allow.

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So you personally being allowed to carry a gun into a state determines whether it's a gulag?

As in every other state, and country, you are required to follow their laws. I'm sure every state has some laws it's citizens might find onerous. Keepers? Does wearing that tin hat give you headaches?

Speedo66 said:

So you personally being allowed to carry a gun into a state determines whether it's a gulag?

As in every other state, and country, you are required to follow their laws. I'm sure every state has some laws it's citizens might find onerous. Keepers? Does wearing that tin hat give you headaches?

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the 2nd amendment is a non-negotiable issue, anyone who subjects themselves to living in a state which has banned the 2nd amendment, such as new york, is just that; a subject, not a citizen. disregarding any particular considerations, it's a simple question, is the right to keep and bear arms in existence or is it not in existence, and in new york, it is not in existence, city or state. hiding a gun behind the fireplace is not keeping and bearing arms, it's hiding a gun behind a fireplace.

I consider any state that restricts an honest citizen from a God given right as oppressive.
I also consider those who defend those oppressive laws and the states that enforce them to be no friend of freedom.
There is no shortage of fanboys here on this site who praise their states laws as if they had made them up themselves. It's fine to be proud of your state because of its beauty, resources, pretty girls or whiskey but to stand up for freedom sucking laws makes 0 sense.

I'd also add that I have no regret over the Gulag comment when I would be thrown in just such a thing if I were to exercise my simple God given rights.

the 2nd amendment is a non-negotiable issue, anyone who subjects themselves to living in a state which has banned the 2nd amendment, such as new york, is just that; a subject, not a citizen. disregarding any particular considerations, it's a simple question, is the right to keep and bear arms in existence or is it not in existence, and in new york, it is not in existence, city or state. hiding a gun behind the fireplace is not keeping and bearing arms, it's hiding a gun behind a fireplace

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I live in Western NY and legally carry every time I leave the house. I had no trouble getting a pistol permit. The majority of states have some restrictions and some of those restrictions are stronger than what we have in NY. Are we more restricted than we'd like? Yes, of course. All but a handful of counties and sheriffs came out against the SAFE Act. Except for two or three counties the only ones that supported the SAFE Act were in and around NYC. Unlike CA, there are no restrictions on what handguns you can have except for the damn 10 round magazine issue. There are no more restrictions on where you can carry than most other states and less than some: "no gun" signs mean nothing legally. There are no restrictions on carrying in a bar.

Oregon is in the same situation. Oregon is not Portland, Eugene, Salem, Roseburg & Medford. These areas should be turned into city-states that have no control over the rest of the state. It is unfair that 5% of the the state that is urban should dictate what the other 95% that is rural\small towns should do. The Gerrymandering that goes on in State Senate boundaries is criminal. In Oregon the Secretary of State who has been a Democrat for the last 35 years gets to draw the political districts. Often the boundaries are drawn up to include just enough urban voters to defeat the rural ones.

Speedo, my apologies. My comment was not intended as a slur.

I'm impressed by the conservative nature of NY and IL outside of NYC and Chicago. I've been to upstate NY many years ago and it reminded me a lot of the West (where I grew up) with all the pine trees and snow.

On a slightly off topic--I love the electoral college too. The Founding Fathers knew that big concentrated urban areas could dictate the presidential election and therefore insured that the folks outside of the cities, in the country around the big cities, had a voice too. It irks the heck out of me every time someone argues against the electoral college and says the presidential election should just be determined by popular vote. Well, that my friends, is exactly what the electoral college is a balance AGAINST. In other words, the millions of people in the big urban (and mainly coastal cities) would end up electing the president while people like me (in Wyoming) would not have any say. It's better that the entire state of WY has those 3-4 electoral college votes. That's not many votes, especially compared to states like CA (16 electoral votes I believe?) but it adds a little more weight to the final voting process.

Anyhow, sorry for the rant.

Upstate NY and particularly the area known as the "North Country" can be very gun friendly. I say can because, due to NYC influence, owning a firearm is a very difficult process for handguns at least. To call NY a "may" issue state is a wonderful comedic act. Thankfully they don't require purchasing permits for rifles or shotguns like in NJ.

Lycidas Janwor said:

... like CA (16 electoral votes I believe?) ...

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California has 55 electoral votes.

oneounceload said:

Except that some folks gain a majority of popular and lose the electoral. The states use popular to determine their electoral so you are still at the mercy of the big urban liberal areas.

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That's a good thing IMHO. Again, the big urban areas will vote for a candidate like Obama (as an example) so that Obama would win the general vote, however, that does not mean he'd get elected IF he didn't get the electoral college votes. In other words, BO could win only a few states like CA and NY that have huge populations and consequently be extremely close to winning the presidency, BUT, he may not get elected if there's a bunch of other states he lost (like WY, OK, MT, ND, SD, NV, ID, etc...).

I believe GWB got elected by the electoral college yet did not win the general population vote. This is the main reason liberals argue to get rid of the electoral college.

I, OTOH, love the electoral college because it's a true balance and much more representative of the entire UNION of states rather than just what the big population centers want.

http://d3k4erco76x75g.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Election-results-by-county.png

An up hill battle.

Lycidas Janwor said:

Anyhow, sorry for the rant.

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No worries. It was a good rant! . I also love the Electoral College and have many gun toting cousins in upstate New York that are true Patriots.

They are quite amazed that these 2 killers are still on the loose after 12 full days. Slipped through the miasma of the Cuomo cracks ,no doubt.

Americas most dreadful politician he is, although with much Progressive competition.