if the NRA doesn't bring a challenge suit soon if at all, i will quit.
Posted on 11/15/2013 4:09:40 PM PST by Impala64ssa
Four words that he uttered at a news conference last May helped Timothy B. Howard win a third term as Erie County sheriff.
The words were “I won’t enforce it,” and Howard was talking about the SAFE Act, a controversial new state firearms law that has outraged gun owners.
The support of angry firearms owners helped the Republican sheriff to a big win Tuesday over his Democratic Party opponent, retired Sheriff’s Deputy Richard E. Dobson, and Sheriff’s Lt. Bert D. Dunn, a Law and Order Party candidate who lost the Democratic nomination in the September primary.
Howard, 63, of South Wales, also received a big boost from having two candidates scrapping with each other over the votes of Democrats.
Late Tuesday night, a jubilant Howard thanked his supporters and leaders of the Republican and Conservative parties for helping him win. He said people all over Erie County have thanked him for his stand on the gun issue.
“I did what I thought was the right thing to do,” Howard told The Buffalo News. “People in Western New York feel strongly about the Constitution and Albany’s misreading of it.”
Since taking office in 2005, Howard has faced some difficult times – including prisoner escapes, mistaken releases of prisoners and suicides at the jail and prison operated by his department. But voters made him only the third Erie County sheriff since 1821 to be elected to three consecutive four-year terms.
“The SAFE Act was a major issue in this election,” said Carl J. Calabrese, a former Erie County deputy county executive who now works as a political consultant. “A lot of people in Erie County, both Republicans and Democrats, are hunters, gun owners and shooters … These are motivated people who get out and vote. In a low-turnout election year like this one, it can make a huge difference.”
Howard has repeatedly voiced his opposition to the state gun control law enacted earlier this year with strong support from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
Howard supports a court challenge to the SAFE Act and has publicly stated that he won’t enforce the law, because in his view, it violates the constitutional rights of gun owners.
Gun owners worked hard to help Howard win, said Harold “Budd” Schroeder of Lancaster, chairman of the board of the Shooters Committee on Political Education. “Don’t you see the signs posted all over Erie County, opposing the SAFE Act? People are very upset about this.”
EVERY household in Switzerland HAS to have a firearm. We don't hear of gun problems there, do we?
SAFE ACT unsafe at any speed.
Too cold there for a tent city.
if the NRA doesn't bring a challenge suit soon if at all, i will quit.
And for those unfamiliar with NY geography, Erie County is Buffalo. This isn't the countryside.
I forget was the safe act a clip limit or something else? Hard to keep track of all the unlawful laws the loons are writing.
Make this guy governor.
The SAFE Act is patently unconstitutional.
but the political leader in Switzerland is not trying to have a coup in their own country and are therefore not terrified of their citizenry because the citizenry is armed. The democrats have been trying to disarm this country for a long time. Guns keep us safe for the time being while Obama prepares the military to make war on our citizenry.
The SAFE Act includes the following provisions:[6][7]
Bans possession of any “high-capacity magazines” regardless of when they were made or sold. The maximum capacity for all magazines is 10 rounds. It is a “Class D Violent Felony” to load more than 7 rounds into a magazine, even at home, for personal and family protection. There is a limited exception, while at a gun range, ten rounds may be loaded into a magazine for target practice or in shooting competitions. Otherwise, simply the loading of an eighth round into a magazine is a more severe crime under the SAFE Act, than criminally negligent homicide, a “Class E Felony” under NYS law. Magazines owned before passage of the SAFE Act able to hold seven to ten rounds can be possessed, but cannot be loaded with more than seven rounds. .22 caliber tubular magazines are exempt from this limit. Previously legal “pre-1994-ban” magazines with a capacity of 30 rounds are not exempt, and must be sold within one year to an out-of-state resident or turned in to local authorities. The magazine limit took effect April 15, 2013.[8] In March 2013, the magazine limit provision was scaled back, allowing ten round magazines, but still only loaded with seven rounds outside of ranges and competitions.[9]
Ammunition dealers are required to do background checks, similar to those for gun buyers. Dealers are required to report all sales, including amounts, to the state. Internet sales of ammunition are allowed, but the ammunition will have to be shipped to a licensed dealer in New York state for pickup. Ammunition background checks will begin January 15, 2014.[10]
Requires creation of a registry of assault weapons. Those New Yorkers who already own such weapons would be required to register their guns with the state. Registry began on April 15, 2013 and must be completed before April 15, 2014.[9]
Requires designated mental health professionals who believe a mental health patient made a credible threat of harming others to report the threat to a mental health director, who would then have to report serious threats to the state Department of Criminal Justice Services. A patient’s gun could be taken from him or her.
Stolen guns are required be reported within 24 hours. Failure to report can result in a misdemeanor.
Broadens definition of “assault weapon” from two identified features to one. The sale and/or transfer of newly defined assault weapons is banned within the state, although sales out of state are permitted. Possession of the newly-defined assault weapons is allowed only if they were possessed at the time that the law was passed, and must be registered with the state within one year.
Requires background checks for all gun sales, including by private sellers - except for sales to members of the seller’s immediate family. Private sale background checks began March 15, 2013.[10]
Guns must be “safely stored” from any household member who has been convicted of a felony or domestic violence crime, has been involuntarily committed, or is currently under an order of protection.[10] Unsafe storage of assault weapons is a misdemeanor.
Bans the Internet sale of assault weapons.
Increases sentences for gun crimes, including upgrading the offense for taking a gun on school property from a misdemeanor to a felony.[11]
Increases penalties for shooting first responders (Webster provision) to life in prison without parole.
Limits the state records law to protect handgun owners from being identified publicly. However, existing permit holders have to opt into this provision by filing a form within 120 days of the law’s enactment. [12] There also may exist issues with respect to “registered” owners in the new regulations vs “permit” holders under previous law.
Requires pistol permit holders or owners of registered assault weapons to have them renewed at least every five years.
The Swiss also aren’t a hotbed of rap music either. It can’t be officially noticed of course, but if you factor out black and hispanic culture,,America’s gun crime rate drops to about the Swiss rate.
No! I can't believe it! I am SHOCKED, just shocked.
I have always thought that the connection between fatherless boys/girls and crime was too huge to ignore. But I was DEAD wrong. The liberals and fools of this world ignore what is patently obvious to me.
My mother grew up in Phoenix, when there were only 10,000 souls there. Her family ALWAYS had a big loaded shotgun in the living room, up on a very handy rifle rack. I always remember it there when we went to visit. It was NO BIG DEAL.
When my husband and I lived up in northern California for a few years, he taught me to shoot. There were SO many drug dealers up there, he thought I needed to learn some shooting skills. He was a GOOD man. I DID try to shoot the big Magnum .357 but I really needed to hold it with BOTH hands. I preferred the handy little Baretta--fit right into my hand.
Our target was the face of Osama bin Laden. I got so I could get him in the beard (throat level) almost all the time at 20 feet. MOTIVE!!
Are you insinuating that the Swiss culture is DIFFERENT from our rap/gansta/drug/pimp culture?!
Lol. :o):o)
Apparently Cuomo has never heard of ex post facto laws.
There are more than a few things in our Constitution that Democrats have never heard of.
In the United States, the Congress is prohibited from passing ex post facto laws by clause 3 of Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution. The states are prohibited from passing ex post facto laws by clause 1 of Article I, Section 10. This is one of the relatively few restrictions that the United States Constitution made to both the power of the federal and state governments.
We don't hear of gun problems there, do we?
I think the problem is here is that we have a much more diverse demographic than the Swiss. And, they have much better border control than we do.
The other issue is that the Swiss have no fear of firearms, the way we do. Many years ago I had a Swiss girlfriend. She had fond memories of her father cleaning and practicing with his rifle when she was young. Don't see that a lot in the US.
Two Democrats splitting the vote so a Republican could win? Smells fishy to me. Could one of them have been a shill?
The other issue is that the Swiss have no fear of firearms, the way we do. Many years ago I had a Swiss girlfriend. She had fond memories of her father cleaning and practicing with his rifle when she was young. Don't see that a lot in the US.
That may be true. The Swiss HAVE to have a gun, by Swiss law, so naturally she grew up with guns around.
No, we don't see that a lot in the U.S., though here we CAN have guns, lots of them, if we want. It's not the law that we MUST have them, like in Switzerland, but we CAN have them.
As far as have to have a gun vs. can have a gun goes, I like the have to have better than our way.
Every Swiss man knows that he lives in his country and along with the benefits comes the responsibility of defending his country.
Here in the US, I feel like I live in Obama's country. While I am way too old to be useful in a conventional fighting force, I would have been one of those old farts who is willing to take up my rifle and go up into the hills if we were ever invaded. Harass the invaders as much as possible. Now that it is Obama's country he can supply those people.
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