If you’ve ever given a PowerPoint presentation, we feel for you. Actually, we feel for your audience even more, but sometimes these things must be done. Be that as it may, there are some basic pointers the pros will impart to make the experience more informative and less sleep-inducing. Things like, don’t read every word on the slide out loud, keep it to no more than four bullet points to a page and make them brief and punchy. Now, though, we have to hand it to Jerome Hauer. New York’s Director of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services has found a new, sure-fire way to make damned sure no one in his audience nods off while he’s droning on . . .

According to timesunion.com, back in October, he gave a briefing to a Swedish delegation on the state’s response to “superstorm” Sandy in a “highly secure state emergency operations center below State Police headquarters.” In order to get his point across, he drew his GLOCK and used its laser to enhance the experience.

These officials, one of whom claimed to be an eyewitness, said that three Swedish emergency managers in the delegation were rattled when the gun’s laser tracked across one of their heads before Hauer found the map of New York, at which he wanted to point.

Hauer, commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, was disabled by a stroke a few years ago and can be unsteady. He isn’t a law enforcement official. He carries the loaded 9-millimeter Glock in a holster into state buildings, an apparent violation of state law barring state employees from bringing weapons to the workplace, several witnesses say.

He definitely would have commanded our attention if we’d been there.

According to one person who witnessed the scene in the conference room, which has mid-wall-to-ceiling windows so that people can see into the meeting space, two people opposite Hauer at the table moved quickly out of the line of the laser when he brought out the gun.

Thank goodness New York’s SAFE Act makes it harder for John and Jane Q. Public to own their own guns. Surely Empire Staters are sleeping more soundly now, secure in the knowledge that it’s much more likely that only highly trained, qualified individuals like Mr. Hauer will be handling dangerous tools like firearms. Still, literally lasing the heads of visiting dignitaries can be bad for international relations. So for that reason alone, we’ll be sending the Director his very own IGOTD keepsake for prominent display in his palatial office. Your tax dollars at work.   [h/t One_if_by_land1776]

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58 COMMENTS

  2. hey Dan, “Lasering” isn’t actually a word. Lasing is the correct word for what you were going for.

    • No, actually, “lasering” is the right word. Admittedly it’s a neologism (a new word), it has to do with pointing the beam. (compare “poling” a river raft.) “Lasing” is what the medium that produces the beam does. “When the current was applied, the helium-neon mix lased in red.”

      • Yep. It’s lasering, not lasing.

        The word “laser” is derived from an acronym — Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation — and has become a word in its own right. Whether it’s an acronym or an ordinary noun, the “ing” goes on the end.

        Trust me. When Ing talks -ing, he knows what he’s talk Ing about. 🙂

    • These kind of people are probably the favorites of Shannon and her ilk. These are police/govt personnel that have supposedly been put through rigorous training in the proper handling of firearms, yet still they screw up. Shannon’s probably thinking, “If these folks who have received all this training still screw up so often and so badly, how can a measly untrained civilian possibly be trusted to safely handle a firearm, much less use it in self-defense without harming an innocent person.”

  8. So this jackwang can pull this stunt without a LEO exemption, while the rest of us common folk get to deal with pinning adjustable stocks and hacking off flash hiders as well as religiously counting rounds (not sure if the recent ruling has force of law yet) lest we be criminals.

    I think the worst part of it all is that I’m not even surprised anymore.

  9. So he’s not a LEO-I wonder if he even has a CPL from NY State. The Times Union article quotes one of his underlings as saying this guy is allowed to carry his pistol in Albany and New York City. Allowed by whom I don’t know as Albany does not have city-specific licensure. I’m not sure what in the world this guy is talking about, but having lived in New York State years ago I know that its senior appointees and elected officials can be masters of obfuscation

  15. Displaying a weapon in such a way as to cause alarm…he didn’t inadvertently display a holstered pistol, this guy lased his audience in a business meeting. And using a Glock as a laser pointer is not the action of a rational person. I mean this sincerely, I wonder if his stroke has affected his reason and decision making.

    • Probably, but remember, when you work in government
      defective reasoning is grounds for promotion.

    • Ya think? If this fool can’t be imprisoned, put him out to pasture; nothing we can do about his retirement funds. Just hope for a speedy, merciful death….

  17. This is simply shocking. Well not really, but still, my jaw hit the floor. This guy deserves the IGOD award, and a one way trip to jail. If this were any joe six pack that is what would have happened.

  18. why not send this to USA Today and MDA (aka, Bloomy’s b!tch) and ask them for an official comment on the record. Then when they don’t respond, send a note to Fox News and highlight curiously their failure to demand this numb nut’s resignation for clear violations of law and safety. Oh, and copy the NY Legislature’s leadership and inquire as to why this is kosher.

    • I agree with everything except “copy the NY Legislature’s leadership.” Clearly, there isn’t any.

  19. I was trying to google Hauer’s salary in between boring PowerPoint slides I’m currently subjected to, but haven’t run across it. I did learn, however, that he’s apparently the only non-statewide official who has his own state-supplied security guard. This one happens to be Hauer’s personal friend of some two decades and former cop; who recieves a salary of $80K+.

    Why does Hauer get a personal guard at taxpayer expense? Although, if the guard is intended to protect others from the irresponsible Hauer, then that might actually make sense.

    • Ahh…ok, cool. Thanks. I was tapering off toward the end of the article, as I was trying not to look too obviously on my phone earlier.

  26. “He definitely would have commanded our attention if we’d been there.”

    No kidding! I would have bull-rushed the MF as soon as his back was turned, disarmed him and called 911… “Help, police! I just disarmed a man brandishing a firearm!”

  27. “Hauer, commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, was disabled by a stroke a few years ago and can be unsteady.”

    Doesn’t he got the grabbers definition of mentally damaged due to that stroke?

  28. Geesh, no wonder politicians don’t think we should have guns. This guy is one of them, and look what a goomba he is

  29. One thing that is for sure, The Swedish people DO tend to know how to handle firearms safely. Their citizens are permited to own guns, and like other nordic nations many do.

  31. Interestingly, this story has been picked up by UPI and other online news places including the Huffington Post. Some of the commenters describe him as another loose cannon old white guy who can’t be trusted with a gun, most everyone missing the irony that he is a political appointee by a Democratic gun-confiscation governor. Some sources in the other articles make mention of him indeed having a New York State carry license, but it’s not clear if he is legal to take that into any New York State office building. Apparently, he has been seen with his holstered Glock entering state offices frequently.

    And no – he can’t be trusted with a gun if he is going to act like that. But knowing what I know about how the New York State government works, he will not face any punishment. Not even a slap on the wrist.

  33. Felony assault, felony assault with firearm, brandishing loaded firearm. Probably others.

    Why did I think “of course!” to the bit that he’s a former LEO? Special blue snowflakes who don’t have to follow the safety rules.

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