Sparaco Resolution To Repeal NY SAFE Act Passes With Overwhelming Bipartisan Support

Rockland County Legislator Frank Sparaco proposed and passed a groundbreaking resolution calling for the repeal of aspects of Governor Cuomo's recently passed NY SAFE Act. The controversial SAFE Act included many onerous requirements and restrictions on gun ownership, and the resolution proposed by Legislator Sparaco called for their repeal.

The lawful ownership of firearms is, and has been, a valued tradition in Rockland County, and the rights protected by the Second Amendment to the Constitution are exercised by many of our residents.

Many State Legislators had less than an hour to read the legislation before being forced to vote on it. We are concerned that there is no possible way any individual could have read the entire bill and understood its full implications prior to voting on it, and our State Legislators most certainly could not have had the time to request, and receive, the input of their constituents regarding this matter or to hold public hearings.

Seeking such public input is a standard to which we hold ourselves in the Rockland County Legislature. This legislation has 60 sections, of which only three take effect immediately, and we say there was no reason for the Governor to use a message of necessity to bring this bill to vote immediately and bypass the three day maturing process for all legislation.

Requiring law-abiding gun owners to verify ownership of certain types of firearms every five years, in addition to registering them on their permits, which now also must be renewed every 5 years, does not increase the safety of the public and is unnecessarily burdensome to the residents of New York. There will be a significant financial impact due to the approximately 16,000 Rockland County permits that will have to be renewed requiring additional manpower and computer systems.

The Sheriffs Association of New York has recommended that the SAFE Act be amended to include: 1) exemptions for purchases of ammunition by law enforcement for training purposes; 2) a clearer definition of assault weapons based on its function rather that its features; and 3) provisions including local law enforcement in the review and implementation of school safety plans.

The NY SAFE Act prohibits the sale of firearm magazines with a capacity larger than seven rounds. Limiting the number of rounds to seven versus ten is arbitrary and capricious, has no correlation to public safety, unfairly burdens law-abiding gun owners, and puts an undue burden on gun manufacturers to retool their manufacturing plants.

The NY SAFE Act makes New York the first state to track ammunition purchases in real time. It forces dealers to register all ammunition with the state police, with each sale requiring a background check and transmission of record of the sale to state police. The dealers must maintain sale of ammunition records for one year. Further, requiring background checks and records to be maintained for sale of ammunition is burdensome on businesses and has no correlation to public safety and welfare.

The NY SAFE Act places increased burdens squarely on the backs of law-abiding citizens, and may in fact turn countless New York State law-abiding gun owners into criminals. The manner in which this legislation was brought forward for vote in the State Legislature is deeply disturbing to Rockland County.

The County Legislature opposes and requests the repeal of the sections within the SAFE Act, which infringe on the constitutional right of the people to keep and bear arms.

"It is a great day for Rockland County. Levelheaded Republicans and Democrats came together to oppose Governor Cuomo's hastily passed and onerous gun law. We're sending a clear message to the state representatives from Rockland who ignorantly voted for this bill, and as representatives of people from across Rockland, we demand that they now work to repeal it," said Legislator Sparaco.

Legislators Carey, Earl, Jobson, Meyers, Murphy, Paul, Soskin, Schoenberger, and Wieder joined Legislator Sparaco in support of this resolution. Five legislators voted against the resolution.

Legislator Frank Sparaco
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>



www.franksparaco.com<http://www.franksparaco.com>

Who voted NO?

I bet they are all liberal democraps that voted no.

Good for them!
Shame on Andrew Cuomo for abusing his authority as Governor and usurping the power of the legislature.

Thankfully, the locales will prevail!

"Not all legislators support Sparaco’s amendment, though. The amendment itself passed, 11-4, with Cornell, Hood, Grant and Low-Hogan voting against. The amended resolution passed, 10-5, with Cornell, Grant, Hood, Low-Hogan and Wolfe voting against it. Wolfe said he could’ve gotten behind the original resolution, but felt the amended one strayed too far from his thoughts on the issue"


Pulled that from the new city patch article.

Wolfe's thoughts strayed too far from common sense....

With damn near every County in the State having passed, or in the process of passing a resolution condemning the SAFE -Act, I want to know WHY no State Senator or Assemblyman has had the balls to publicly call out for the repeal of the act?

I've heard plenty of "I voted against..." but not a word "we're introducing legislation to repeal...."  
You're going to see Politicians using "I didn't have time to read and comprehend...." as an excuse to back-pedal, and when they do it'll be for little things like law enforcement being exempted for magazines used in duty weapons.

There needs to be much more than revision, or resending; the clear message to not fuck with us or our guns must be made loud and clear.  

I was at that meeting last night! It was a packed house with standing room only!
About 30 Citizens....Marines, Veterans, Cops, Sheriffs (active & retired), men, women, gun owners, & those who do not own guns
all spoke eloquently, passionately, intelligently, and respectfully in favor of our Second Amendment rights and in Condemnation of Gov Cuomo, the NYS Assembly
and the NYS Senate. To the Chairwoman's credit she permitted everyone to speak (it took us well over the 40 minutes usually alloted for the public). Every speaker
was amazing. Several received standing ovations and hearty applause! It was very encouraging to see how the vote went. Earlier in the day the votes were not there
to condemn and demand the repeal of the SAFE ACT....apparently last night our County Legislators listened to their constituents.  It is a huge gesture on their part.
I am hoping we have lit a fire in our counties that will burn all the way to the State House and smoke out the skunks who passed this useless, fluff piece, of window
dressing legislation designed to assuage fears rather than get to the root of the gun problem (namely the lack of judiciary conjones to hand down the proper sentences
for crimes committed with a firearm and to deal with the fact that due to HIPPA laws a background check will not stop heavily medicated, psychotic, mentally ill person
from either buying guns or living in homes where guns are owned).  

"When the govt comes for my guns.....I will give them to them......bullets first."

“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.”  
Thomas Paine

The tragedy at Newtown’s Sandy Hook school has ignited an attack on gun rights and law abiding gun owners that (at least here in the State of NY) could be the most successful campaign
against the Second Amendment in the history our country.   In just over one month, opponents of our inalienable right to bear arms have seized emotional, informational, and political
advantages amidst the chaos of the national gun debate. They have spread the disease of gun control sentiment with alarming speed and devastating effects.
There are many here in this room and many here in this country who scoff at proponents of the 2nd Amendments concerns over a Governor, a State Legislature, a President, and
a Congress and Senate, who seem determined to run roughshod over our constitutional right to keep and bear arms by passing anti gun legislation in a knee jerk fashion.  In
Washington State they aren’t stopping at the 2nd Amendment two US Congressmen from Seattle are trying to take out the 4th Amendment as well.  As a part of their gun control
legislation they have put in a clause which allows the search once a year of gun owner’s homes.  Once we take away the 2nd Amendment what is to stop our government from taking
away the 4th or the 1st or all of them for that matter?  We are told we are over-reacting, We are treated as though we have no historical understanding of the Founders Original Intent
when they drew up the 2nd Amendment & the Bill of Rights. We are treated as though we are ignorant of the Federalist Papers. We are treated to specious arguments empty of facts
and full of emotional pap from the anti gun crowd.  You laugh at us and roll your eyes when we bring up History. You dismiss our concerns over our fears that the next step will be the
confiscation of all of our guns. People did the same when Hitler, Stalin, PolPot, Castro, Chairman Mao, Idi Amin, Qaddafi, & Kim Jung Il began to take guns out of the hands of their
citizens for their own protection too. While no one FEELS that tyranny can take root or exist in a free nation, history has proved factually that it cannot take root or exist in a free nation
where the people are armed and that is why some of the most violent dictators in history disarmed the people first.

This is not a Democrat vs Republican Issue. This is a Liberty Issue.  There is a resolution before this Legislature to outlaw gun shows, reinstate the Federal Weapons ban from the 1990's, and require all guns to be part of a federal registry.  I am petitioning both sides of the aisle in this room to vote that resolution down.  This nation was founded on the idea that the States have the Right to make their own laws. This legislation abdicates the right of NYS to govern its own citizens and assigns it to the Federal Govt.  Do not do that!   THe is a Resolution before this Legislature to demand the repeal of the SAFE ACT...We are petitioning you to PASS THAT RESOLUTION!
         
18 Counties in NYS have resolutions condemning Gov Cuomo’s Safe Act. They are actively seeking to repeal that law. A Law that was passed in violation of Article III Section 14 of our NYS Constitution which states:      “No Bill shall be passed or become law unless it shall have been printed and upon the desks of the members in its final form, at least three calendar legislative days prior to its final passage, unless the governor, or the acting governor, shall have certified under his or her hand and the seal of the state the facts which in his or her opinion necessitate an immediate vote thereon…”                                                                                                                                                                  
There was no need for the Senate to waive the three day rule, which they did by approving the bill within 20 minutes of receiving it. There was no need for the Assembly to approve the bill within hours of receiving it, which they did. There was no need for speed and it is outrageous that both the Senate and the Assembly passed this legislation in the middle of the night without the input of the public. As a matter of fact they essentially passed this legislation without even reading it. The legislature was not scheduled to adjourn for the year, we were not under attack and there was no natural or man-made disaster.  We are here now petitioning our County Legislators not to add injury to insult!! Vote down the resolution with Amendments 4 5 & 6 and Vote for the Condemnation of the SAFE ACT.

The Governor’s message of necessity was a sham. It said the bill would immediately ban “the ownership, purchase and sale of assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices….” The bill does not ban the ownership of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of currently owned assault weapons in NY. Nor does it immediately ban the millions of currently owned large capacity(10+) ammunition feeding devices in NY. Quite frankly we now have legislation that does not PREVENT the ownership of those guns in actuality all it does is prevent more people from owning those guns.  It is a useless fluff piece of window dressing legislation designed to assuage fears rather than get to the root of the gun problem.  The vast majority of incidents like Newtown have nothing to do with the guns used and everything to do with the mental illness of those who used those guns.  If we are to truly prevent such horrible occurrences in the future we must address that issue and the issue of enforcing the laws designed to prosecute and punish those who use guns in a criminal act. Trampling on the rights of law abiding Gun owners will do nothing to prevent further gun violence….

Over 18 counties and 50 County Sheriffs in New York State have refused to enforce this law. I find that encouraging. There are still Patriots in this state who understand Article 12 of our State Constitution and the Second Amendment to our US Constitution. I pray that their voices for the preservation of our rights and this nation….will win the day.  

I leave you with this: Noah Webster once said: When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, “just men who will rule in the fear of God.” The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a representative republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.

Please prove to us…the electorate of Rockland County… that we have
Indeed put just men and women into office. Men and women
Who will not violate our rights and who will secure our prosperity and happiness
By making and administering JUST laws and joining with us to fight the unjust ones!