As I look over the last few posts here, it seems like all Manor, all
the time. Yesterday, the Board took a symbolic but, I believe,
substantial vote to recommend repeal of the SAFE Act, the firearm
violence act passed by the NYS legislature in January.
I don't want to go into a lot of detail here, unless anyone is
interested. The truth is, the SAFE Act does not violate the Second
Amendment – not by a long shot – and, similarly, support for the
SAFE Act does not mean that I (or anyone else) am breaking the oath I
took to uphold the Constitution.
I have a great respect for the Constitution – among the
longest-lasting document of its kind in world history – and I
happen to know a little about how it came about, and what folks were
thinking when they debated, wrote, and ratified it. This is not,
apparently, the case with the folks who, during two privilege of the
floor sessions, insisted that the SAFE Act violated the Second
Amendment, and that my support for it broke my oath. These things
are not true, and I take offense at being accused of the latter
during a public session, when I had no opportunity to respond.
The Board voted 10-4 to recommend repeal of a broad measure which
attempts to keep firearms out of the hands of people who want to kill
you, me and our children. They had the opportunity to recommend
amending the SAFE Act – which has quite a number of serious flaws
which need to be addressed – but chose to recommend 'repeal and
replace,' which has, for some time, been Republican code for 'repeal
and forget.'
So when the next mass murder takes place, Otsego County will be on
the list of those who didn't want to do anything to prevent it. That
makes yesterday a very sad day, indeed, for Otsego County.
