By Larry Keane
NEWTOWN, Conn –-(Ammoland.com)- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo invited representatives of the New York State Sheriff’s Association to meet with him and discuss issues with the recently passed “SAFE Act.”
At least that’s what the sheriffs thought the meeting would be about.
But instead, according to this article in the Albany Times Union, Cuomo told the sheriffs to cease and desist expressing their wide-ranging comments in opposition to many of the law’s provisions. “The governor was of the opinion that the sheriffs around the state should not be interjecting their personal opinions in reference to the law,” according to one attendee.
News flash to the governor: That cat is out of the bag, since both the Sheriff’s Association and several individual sheriffs have joined the litigation against the new law. But the governor isn’t out of options yet. No meeting attendee was willing to confirm this, but at least one source says that Cuomo threatened to use an obscure power of the governor’s office to remove sheriffs from office.
New York is not the only state where sheriffs are speaking out against new gun laws. In Colorado, a majority of state sheriffs have joined litigation against new gun laws filed earlier this week. NSSF is also a party to the Colorado lawsuit, and proud to support the sheriffs for pointing out obvious problems with the new law, as noted in this article, which quotes their filing as follows:
“The Sheriffs have limited resources and limited public funds to spend on investigations . . . They cannot expend those resources to conduct investigations that would be necessary to monitor compliance with the new magazine restrictions. No documentation has ever been required for the retail or private purchase of magazines, making it a practical impossibility for the Sheriffs to determine whether one of the many magazines already in existence was obtained after the effective date.”
Of course, we told them that before the law was passed, but Colorado legislators weren’t listening then, any more than Cuomo is willing to hear criticism of his trademark law now. And we recall that Colorado legislators protested comments by state sheriffs in opposition when their new law was under debate.
It is rapidly becoming a hallmark of anti-gun politicians to view the First Amendment with equal disdain as the Second Amendment. Both are “inconvenient truths” in their zeal to enact new restrictions on our rights and our industry.
About NSSF
The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 6,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers. For more information, log on to www.nssf.org.