According to Bloomberg News, federal legislation to force New York City to allow anyone from other states to carry concealed handguns has 243 sponsors in the U.S. Congress. Among those sponsoring the legislation are U.S. Representative Heath Shuler, a North Carolina Democrat, Representative Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, and two Republican senators, David Vitter of Louisiana and John Thune of South Dakota. As the attached spreadsheet from the latest Statistical Abstract of the United States shows, North Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana all have New York City beat – in murder and rape. South Dakota has a low crime rate overall and below New York City in murder, but is sky high in rape. Needless to say, a comparison between central cities in these states and NYC would be far worse. The Northeast U.S. is generally lower than other parts of the country in crime.

Perhaps the Mayor should warn New York area residents against visiting these states, as well as being forced to follow their example.

GATE REPEATS HIS ENDORSEMENTS (and adds a couple):

Congress 9^th CD: David Weprin

My haters in blog-land do have one legit gripe: I focus too much of my writings on the Brooklyn political scene. Look; it’s my prerogative. Brooklyn is always in flux. The Brooklyn political scene is like Sam Malone’s love life: never boring.

I really tried to stay out of this one; I really did. And, as usual, I will get slapped upside the head (politically speaking) for writing this short column: but here goes.

I heard there wasn't a dry eye when Paul performed "Sounds of Silence" today, but when I finally woke from my hangover on 9/12/01, I played this one twelve times in a row. It will always be my 9/11 song, and maybe should be our national anthem.

This piece is a drosh targeted to my friends in the Orthodox community about “Hakoras Ha-Tov,” a Jewish concept which is roughly translated as either “thankfulness and appreciation,” or “dancing with those who brung ya”.

HACK ROUNDTABLE: