One of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aides, head of the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Jerome Hauer, appears to have broken state gun laws by repeatedly carrying a handgun to work. He was then issued a hasty waiver to allow him to carry a gun at work after his behavior was brought to light. It’s good to have friends in high places.

A January newspaper story revealed his possible crime when it reported on this utterly boneheaded behavior:

Jerome M. Hauer, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s director of homeland security, took out his handgun and used the laser sighting device attached to the barrel as a pointer in a presentation to a foreign delegation, according to public officials. It happened Oct. 24 in Albany at the highly secure state emergency operations center below State Police headquarters. 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.

If Cuomo weren’t going to great lengths to protect him, I’d almost wonder if he were a planted object lesson in gun idiocy for the anti-gun gov to exploit, this is so phenomenally dumb. The Albany paper claimed Hauer is in the habit of carrying a loaded Glock 9mm to work, in violation of the law, but Hauer has denied details of the allegation:

In an email to TheDC early Thursday evening, Jerome Hauer personally disputed the Times Union’s story, insisting that only an administrative rule prevents state employees from carrying guns to work, and that he has been granted a waiver. He also says he’s never owned a 9-millimeter Glock. “The [Times Union] reporter involved has made libelous statements in his articles,” Hauer said.

But if he hadn’t been carrying a gun, why did the Cuomo administration scramble to get him a special waiver exempting him from the law after his behavior came to light?

The Cuomo administration has obtained a waiver to allow the head of the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to carry a handgun at work. The required sign-off from a law barring state employees from packing a weapon at their workplace came from the state Office of General Services four days after the Times Union published a story about DHSES Commissioner Jerome M. Hauer using his handgun’s laser sighting attachment as a pointer in a meeting with a Swedish delegation. Cuomo defended Hauer at a news conference Wednesday. The governor said he’s comfortable with commissioners carrying weapons to work as long as they have gun permits. He qualified the response by adding “if they are licensed and in that field of work.” Hauer is not a law enforcement officer or working in law enforcement, although his official vehicle has emergency lights and sirens. Despite the lack of a waiver before January, several witnesses said he has been carrying a gun on the job since Cuomo appointed him in 2011.

Note that the apparent criteria for carrying a gun is whether Cuomo is your buddy and hired you for a government job. The Times Union goes on to report that State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico declined to issue a waiver, so the administration went to the only other person authorized to give one—General Services Commissioner RoAnn Destito. Nice to see Hauer is covered by the David Gregory Exception to Gun Laws, which covers prominent law breakers of a left-leaning persuasion who know a bunch of powerful people.