Third time is a charm.

This happened Thursday, but I just caught wind of it today.

From the Brooklyn Eagle:

After 7-year push, ‘gravity knives’ are decriminalized

After seven years and two previous vetoes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday signed a bill decriminalizing so-called “gravity knives” in New York.

The bill, unanimously passed three times by the state Legislature, legalizes the possession of folding knives of the type sold in hardware stores across the city. The vast majority of people arrested for carrying the common knives have been black and Latino men, many who use the tools in their work.

The bill was sponsored by Assemblymember Dan Quart, of Manhattan, and state Sen. Diane Savino, who represents parts of Bay Ridge and Coney Island.

Quart was ecstatic on Thursday.

“The third time really is the charm,” he said in a statement. “After seven years, we have finally managed to overhaul New York’s outdated and discriminatory pocket knife ban. No stage hand, no plumber, and no carpenter should have to risk their freedom to carry a tool they need for work.”

It should be pointed out that Quart and Savino are both Democrats, and that the state legislature passed the bill unanimously.

Cuomo explained his change of heart by saying the ‘legal landscape has changed.’

No fucking shit, the legal landscape has changed.  The news on this topic, Left, Right, Center, and Libertarian all kept pointing out that this law was used to arrest mostly working-class Brown and Black men in NYC who carry knives for work.  Even the fucking unions wanted this overturned.  So did the ALCU and Brooklyn Public Defenders union.  It would be hard for Cuomo to keep going against the desires of so many groups that he needs to back him up on other things.

He was “constrained to veto similar bills” in 2016 and 2017, Cuomo said, because of the “uniform opposition of the state’s law enforcement entities and mayors.” This included Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill, who were dealing with an uptick in slashings and stabbings in 2016, especially around clubs and bars on weekends.

That’s a load of bullshit.  De Blasio is a commie tyrant and the NYPD police commissioner loves easy arrests to boost numbers.  These stabbings had nothing to do with access to work knives and everything to do with a lack of police patrols and easing up on enforcement.

In March, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York declared the state’s existing “gravity knife” ban unconstitutional. The court reasoned that the existing law could result in arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.

Oh yeah, and there was that too.

It’s a good thing that Cuomo signed the bill into law before a Federal court put his balls in a vice.

From Gothamist:

Cuomo Signs Bill To End ‘Absurd’ Gravity Knife Ban That He Supported For Years

So, what’s changed? The legal landscape, according to Cuomo. Specifically, the governor cited a federal court ruling this past March that found the law to be unconstitutionally vague. In that decision, Manhattan U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty harshly criticized the unreliable “wrist-flick test”—an imprecise standard used by both the NYPD and Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance to see whether the folding knives require force to open.

“While I remain aware of the cautious community voices, I cannot veto a bill passed by the Legislature to address a decided constitutional infirmity in existing law, as recently affirmed by a federal court,” Cuomo said.

His balls in a vice.

Advocates and elected officials celebrated the reversal, while at the same time wondering why the governor spent so long upholding a ban that he now deems “absurd.”

Because he’s a fucking tyrant who thinks he’s the inherited the right to sit upon the Empire State Throne.

“As someone who was arrested and spent time in jail for carrying a knife I used as a construction worker, I think this law should have been repealed long ago,” said Mark Moses, a community leader with VOCAL-NY, in a statement. “That said, I’m glad the Governor finally signed this law so that others coming up behind me don’t need to go through what happened to me.”

True that.

Now all we have to do is wait for the Supreme Court to do the same to New York with its gun laws.

I think next gubernatorial election, a Republican should run on the promise to vacate the convictions of all those convicted of ONLY gravity knife possession.

Really stick it to Cuomo on his way out.