Few thoughts....
On the topic - Seems like they were a bit harsh on the woman. The laws are not crazy. Gun control in NYC is a good thing IMO.
Whether they are good or bad, effective or ineffective, those are the laws in New York. This woman should have obeyed the law (or been more aware of what she was carrying) and she wouldn't have had a problem. Right? And I say that as a Life Member of the NRA. IMO, she only has herself to blame. I had a similar situation in Washington, D.C. years ago. I knew that it was illegal for me to possess a handgun in D.C. But while traveling back from a test firing session at a range in Maryland, I took a short-cut through D.C. and I had some ammo on my front seat. When I went through a traffic check, the D.C. cop freaked out on me. That's the first time I've EVER had a cop put his hand on his gun when speaking to me... telling me to keep my hands on the wheel, etc. He and his partner questioned me for several minutes about where my gun was. My answer: at home. :dunno: Long story short, the cop confiscated the ammo and told me he could have arrested me for possessing handgun ammunition in the District. I did not know that - now I do.
States Rights - kind of funny, used to be the Democratic Party was the states rights party. I'm amazed at watching the Republicans debate. Bain is bad? Sheesh, one of the best managed firms that I know of. I've had the pleasure to work with Bain and they are about smart business. If we don't stay competitive, we don't stay employed. Perry is a butthead.
As for Bain, I'm not familiar with that firm in particular. But I am familiar with many other private equity firms. Whether they call people like me project managers, management consultants, process improvement specialists or Black Belts, it's those of my ilk that go in after firms or divisions are purchased by PE firms. There are times when the overall goal is to actually improve the business and make it a long term working concern. And there are other times when the goal is to just dress it up, sell off marginal, non-core pieces and then flip it quickly. It's very seldom that a PE firm will keep a business for more than five years. But at the end of the day, the primary objective is to maximize the profits from the eventual sale... and lessen the losses when/if things go sour. If I'm not mistaken, Bain underfunded the pensions of at least one business and then took it into bankruptcy. The pension fund is an asset. Quite often, that fund is used as collateral when the initial purchase is made. PE firms typically work off massive leverage. The old saying about using "opium" (OPM = other people's money) to acquire assets is how they do business. So one way to make your money back faster is by not fully funding the pensions and putting that money in your pocket. Firing older workers (close to retirement) and using as many temps as possible (with no benefits) is another tactic used by some.
PE firms aren't all bad, but they're not all good either. At least not in my experience. There are times when they build dying companies back up. And there are other times when they take a decent business and strip it bare... sort of like selling the lumber, copper wiring and pipes out of a house just to generate profits.
And yeah, Perry is a butthead. Only standing beside Michele Bachmann does he look intelligent.