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In the wake of Sandy Hook and in advance of his State of the State address Wednesday afternoon, much was made of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's ambitious plans for gun control, from the front pages of the Drudge Report to The New York Times. When it came to the speech itself, Cuomo shied away from the big reveal, spending very little time on the firearms legislation and refusing to outline it in any detail — but behind the scenes, the New York state legislature is reportedly "within 95 percent of a deal" and could agree on wide-reaching measures by the end of the week, with a vote as soon as Monday.
The key highlights from the Cuomo speech today were a couple lines regarding assault weapons, like this one:
Cuomo: "No one hunts with an assault rifle. No one needs ten bullets to kill a deer."
— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) January 9, 2013
And this promise:
New York Gov. Cuomo presents gun-control agenda at State of State, starting with 'toughest assault weapons ban in nation'
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) January 9, 2013
But after all the buildup, local reports were noticed how little time Cuomo actually spent talking about the gun issue:
Surprised Cuomo spent so little time on guns. #nysos13
— Bill Hammond (@NYDNHammond) January 9, 2013
According to the Times, Cuomo's address spanned 78 minutes, with more time devoted to the state's plans for casinos and jokes about white-water rafting than what is amounting to a seven-point plan for what he did call the "toughest assault weapons ban" in the nation.