That the Senate GOP plan to curb illegal guns landed with something of a thud with Gov. Andrew Cuomo seems to be an understatement.

Cuomo once again today sounded unethusiastic over the plan unveiled Saturday by Majority Leader Dean Skelos that tighten restrictions on illegal guns and firearm use in crimes, but doesn’t address scaling back assault weapons or rifles that the Democratic governor has said is an urgent goal.

“I think it misses the mark, pardon the pun, to put out a plan that doesn’t ban assault weapons,” Cuomo told reporters today at his Moreland Act Commission meeting.

But as The Daily News reported today, Cuomo plans a very strong public push on gun control in order to push the Senate GOP along.

In many ways, that public push began last week, with the five-member Independent Democratic Conference meeting with the governor and then re-affirming their support for the governor’s gun control measures which he briefed them on privately.

It all seemed to be an attempt to isolate Skelos and the Senate Republicans, who have balked on gun control measures in the last several years.

But the Senate GOP does have some backing from the state’s Conservative Party, who hailed the plan this morning in a statement from Chairman Michael Long.

“Evil exists, and we must do all we can to prevent evil acts from happening. The proposals, Senator Dean Seklos unveiled late Saturday afternoon, in the wake of more violence that injured three New York Policemen, should be enacted as soon as possible in the hope that senseless, unwarranted gun violence, whether it is by gang members using illegal “community” guns or a crazed gunman trained by his mother, ends now. Senator Skelos’s tough plan addresses the problem without undermining the 2nd Amendment,” said Long in a statement.

Proposing tough-on-crime laws may miss the mark for gun control advocates, but it has a receptive audience in the powerful Conservative Party quarters. The Conservative Party has received $15,000 in the last two election cycles from the National Rifle Association.

And the move also allows the Republicans to play a little offense against the Assembly Democrats in order to portraty them as being soft on crime, as evidenced by this statement this afternoon by Senate GOP spokeswoman Kelly Cummings:

“The refusal of the Assembly Democrats to even consider putting in place tougher penalties, including mandatory minimum sentences for individuals who commit crimes with guns, illegally possess or sell guns, or to strengthen Kendra’s Law, is unconscionable. At this time, the Assembly Democrats are jeopardizing an agreement on comprehensive gun safety legislation.”

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