As the legislative session rapidly winds down, lawmakers are frantically trying to pass a number of bills that have been on the table for months before they leave Albany and hit the campaign trail.

One of the more controversial bills would require semiautomatic handguns made and sold in New York to have unique identifying information on spent bullet casing–a process known as microstamping.

The measure has some powerful supporters, including New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg–but also is vehemently opposed by the gun lobby.

After a heated debate and slow roll call voted, the bill was yanked from the floor yesterday just before it was about to fail.
Three upstate democrats voted “no,” but the Democrats who control the chamber instead blamed the bill’s demise on one Republican who took a well-timed and mysterious phone call and never cast his vote.

Liz Benjamin caught up with Brooklyn Senator Marty Golden earlier today to ask him who was on the other end of that line and how he might have voted had he been in the chamber.