Syracuse.com - Local state lawmakers: NY Safe Act changes will likely come with amendments

[HuntingNY-News]

“We don’t think there’s enough Band-Aids in Albany to fix this bill,” said Stephen Wowelko, president of the Onondaga Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs.

Rally at the State Capitol in Albany against the strict NYS gun law. Rich Redman of Moriah, N.Y. in Essex County holds a 'Don't Tread On Me' flag. David Lassman I [email protected]

Thursday’s bus ride to Albany with local sportsmen and women who were protesting the NY SAFE Act was an eye-opener.

The rally attracted more than 10,000 gun supporters from across the state. Locally, local sportsmen clubs organized nine busloads (four from Onondaga/Oswego; two from Cayuga and Madison counties and one from Cortland county).

On the way up, I asked for a show of hands on my bus of 54 riders to see how many were taking a day off from work to attend. Twenty-one riders raised their hands. Whether you agreed or not with their position, their passion and their willingness to do something about it was undeniable.

“This is just not about gun rights,” said Bob Geraci, a retired Onondaga County parks director and avid sportsman who I met inside the Legislature building. “This is about government getting off our backs, of having it stop tell us what to do. This is just a perfect symbol of how onerous government can be.”

Rick McDermott, of Pulaski, was one of the local organizers. He said there were a total of 187 charter buses from across the state attending, not including a host of people who drove themselves or car-pooled.

A criticism voiced over and over by attendees was that this law was pushed through by Gov. Cuomo and others without public hearings or debates, essentially circumventing the normal legislative process under the guise of an “emergency.”

“We don’t like the NY Safe Act, we want it repealed. We don’t like the way it was done. We don’t like several of the provisions,” said Stephen Wowelko, president of the Onondaga County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs. “There are some good parts, but they were all thrown into a basket of dirty laundry. Now they all stink.”

In addition to attending a protest rally outside during which David Keene, president of the NRA spoke, I tagged along with sportsmen and women from Onondaga and Oswego counties, who scheduled appointment s with local state lawmakers.

<span class="adv-photo-large"> A group from Central New York meet with Assemblyman Will Barclay at the State Capitol in Albany after arriving by bus for a rally against the strict NYS gun law. Mr. Barclay who voted against the new law is talking with Willy Dottolo of Parish (left)./span> David Lassman I [email protected]

The meeting with Assemblyman Will Barclay, R-Pulaski, who voted against the law, went smoothly. Barclay was preaching to the choir. “This bill showed how we have problems in Albany. It’s not right. We should have had hearings around the state. Gotten more input,” Barclay said, adding the best bet for change was to "diversify your ranks" and to contact friends and contacts downstate "and explain why it's such a bad bill, that it has nothing to do with Newtown, Conn... that this really doesn't serve any purpose."

Asked if he felt the law would be overturned because it was an "infringement" on Second Amendment rights, Barclay said he hoped that would happen, but that it would be a challenge. He noted, for example, that there have been some infringements in the past that have withstood the legal test, citing the banning of taking firearms on airplanes.

Barclay and others indicated it’s highly unlikely the law would be repealed legislatively, noting the best hope for revisions will come during the “amendment process,” which could take place in a couple of weeks, but most likely not until the state budget is passed.

A session with Assemblyman Al Stirpe, D-Cicero, who voted in favor of the law, was bumpier. Shirpe did say he was in favor of amending the part of the bill that limits the amount of bullets in a clip for a semi-automatic firearm. He said he’d like to see it changed from 7 to 10.

Prior to meeting with the Onondaga/Oswego county contingent, Stirpe’s voice level went up when he was insulted by members of a small group he was meeting with. Several of those in attendance angrily walked out.

“We’ll attempt to make some changes, but it’s not going to be repealed,” Stirpe said to those remaining in the room. “We’ll do what we can. The thing with you guys is that you’ve taken all your worse fears and said they’ve already happened. They haven’t happened yet.”

When told that this law was just another step in limiting Second Amendment rights, the assemblyman responded: “I’m sorry, but everyone who gives me the ‘slippery slope’ argument (does so) when they’ve run out of anything to say because everything they say has been shown not to be true. Then they go to the slippery slope position.”

When told that these laws will prompt residents and others to buy firearms and weapons from outside the state, Stirpe agreed. “That’s the problem. One of the main reasons I voted for this freakin' bill was that so the federal government might actually do something. If everything gets voted down, none of these guys will vote for anything. It’ll be just like it is, with illegal guns floating around all over…You can just go out and buy whatever and just drive back in with it. It is a problem.”

A member from the Onondaga County contingent asked Stirpe to look out his window, asking him if that’s the biggest rally he’s ever seen.

"Are you kidding me? “ he said. “When the 99 percenters were in there it was packed for like a month or six weeks.”

State Senator David Valesky, D-Oneida and Assemblyman Sam Roberts, D-Syracuse, also voted for the Safety Act, defending their vote by saying there were problems with it, but they both felt the law contained good elements that they support. Like Barclay and Shirpe, both pledged to work on changes in the amendment process, asking constituents to be specific in the changes they’d like to see.

Wowelko and others, though, said they were counting on pending lawsuits by the NRA and others to overturn the law.

“We don’t think there’s enough Band-Aids in Albany to fix this bill,” Wowelko said. “The standing joke is that the only lives the Safe Act is going to save is those of criminals.”

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog