Monroe County takes action to oppose NY SAFE Act
Posted at: 03/12/2013 9:42 PM
| Updated at: 03/12/2013 11:15 PM
By: Amanda Ciavarri | WHEC.com
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Monroe County has taken a stand against the New York SAFE Act. The act has been the topic of heated debate since Governor Cuomo signed it into law in January.
Tuesday night, the Monroe County Legislature announced it will send a letter to the governor's office that says it is joining the dozens of other counties who are calling for the SAFE Act to be repealed.
The county will send the letter to Albany. To read the letter, click here. In it, they say the New York's SAFE Act has clearly missed its mark and fails to offer real solutions to gun violence.
Monroe County now joins dozens of other counties who are calling for the repeal of this act. Forty-three counties, including Monroe, all have passed some kind of resolution, calling for repeal. Seven counties have a pending resolution. Eleven counties have not proposed anything.
At Tuesday's Monroe County Legislature meeting, close to 50 people got up to talk about how they feel about the SAFE Act. More of them were against it saying it doesn't do anything to actually stop violence, and that it hurts law abiding gun owns. While there wasn't an actual vote on a resolution, the legislature says the letter does count as one. Nineteen people have signed on, all republicans, and democrats will have their chance to sign it Tuesday night.
Anthony Daniele, Republican, Majority Leader, said, “There is several different ways to vote on a resolution and we have a resolution, which you have on that There are 20 signatures from the majority caucus of this legislature. Our county executive has singed onto that and the minority has the opportunity, that is open to them. By the end of the business day who ever has signed that, that will be forwarded on and filed with the governor.”
Carrie Andrews, Democrat, Monroe County 21st District, said, “Included in the SAFE Act are a lot of provisions that I think would help the residents of New York State, including victims of domestic violence, so that a judge could block their accuser from keeping their weapon at home. I think that would help victims of domestic violence. It would also make having a gun in a school a felony. It also closes persistent loopholes with the sale of guns in New York State.”
Carrie Andrews says she will not be singing the resolution letter. Monroe County's resolution says that the county does support the Webster Provision, which provides stiffer penalties for people who murder first responders while they are responding to an emergency. The governor's office says their response to this is that there are polls that show New York State residents do support the SAFE Act.
Concerned residences are encouraged to send letters of their own to Albany or reach out to their lawmakers. For your lawmakers' contact information, click here.
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