Senate Democrats' gun-violence agenda rejected by GOP

ALBANY — The state Senate's Democratic Conference fell short in an attempt Wednesday to force a vote in their chamber on a series of gun-safety bills intended to augment the 2013 SAFE Act.

"The madness has got to stop. We need action, and we need it now," Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said at a press conference outside the Senate chamber on Wednesday morning. "Stopping gun violence should not be a partisan issue."

Stewart-Cousins and 20 members of her conference subsequently entered the Senate chamber and began pushing their legislation on the floor in a series of what are known as hostile amendments - attaching their legislation to an unrelated bill on organ donations.

But when the Democrats asked for a vote by a show of hands, however, they fell short — even with eight votes of support from members of the Independent Democratic Conference — as Republicans in control of the chamber declined to support the measures. Some Republican senators left the chamber prior to voting. Sen. Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat who often conferences with the Republicans and provides their crucial 32nd vote, opted not to attend the vote.

Read more: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Senate-Dems-force-vote-on-gun-safety-measures-12716634.php