Genesee County Resolution Calling For Repeal

RESOLUTION NO.
MEMORIALIZATION CALLING FOR THE REPEAL OF THE SAFE ACT OF 2013-APPROVAL OF Legislator Stein offered the following resolution:

WHEREAS, The right of the people to keep and bear arms is guaranteed as an individual right under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, and

WHEREAS, The lawful ownership of firearms is, and has been, a valued tradition in Genesee County, and the rights protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution are exercised by many of its residents; and

WHEREAS, Members of the Genesee County Legislature, being elected to represent the people of Genesee County, are duly sworn by their oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS, The enactment of the NY SAFE Act (Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2013) has engendered significant controversy over both the process by which it was enacted and certain provisions contained within it; and

WHEREAS, In our opinion, 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; and

WHEREAS,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 law abiding residents of New York State; and

WHEREAS, This legislation prohibits the sale of firearm magazines with a capacity larger than seven rounds; and

WHEREAS, Those firearm magazines with a capacity larger than seven rounds, which are authorized to be retained by existing owners, may only be loaded with seven rounds and eventually must be permanently altered to only accept seven rounds or be disposed of, thus constituting a seizure of legally owned personal property with no provision for compensation; and

WHEREAS, Few or no low capacity (7 rounds or less) magazines currently exist for many of the firearms commonly possessed by law-abiding residents of New York State; and

WHEREAS, 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; and

WHEREAS, The only persons who will comply with the new high-capacity magazine ban are law-abiding citizens, leaving the same high-capacity magazines in the hands of those whom choose not to obey the law; and

WHEREAS,Requiring documentation of all ammunition sales in New York State, as provided for in this legislation, is a significant unfunded mandate on business; and

WHEREAS, Governor Cuomo has proposed spending $36 million dollars in his 2013-2014 Executive budget for the implementation of the NY SAFE Act at a time when New York State residents are crying out for tax relief; and

WHEREAS, This legislation severely impacts the privacy, possession and use of firearms now employed by the residents of Genesee County for defense of life, liberty, and property; and

WHEREAS, This legislation severely impacts the possession and use of firearms now employed for safe forms of recreation including, but not limited to, hunting and target shooting; and

WHEREAS, This legislation fails to offer any meaningful solutions to gun violence and places increased burdens where they do not belong, squarely on the backs of law-abiding citizens; and

WHEREAS, This legislation effectively turns countless New York State law-abiding gun owners into criminals. Now, therefore, Be it

 RESOLVED, That the Genesee County Legislature supports the positions adopted by resolution from the New York State Sheriff Association and the New York State County Clerks Association, and Be it further

RESOLVED, That the Genesee County Legislature does hereby oppose, and request the repeal of, any legislation, including the sections within the NY SAFE Act (Chapter1 of the Laws of 2013), which infringe upon the right of the people to keep and bear arms; and Be it further

RESOLVED, That the Genesee County Legislature considers such laws to be unnecessary and
beyond lawful legislative authority granted to our State representatives, and Be it further

RESOLVED, That a certified copy of this resolution be sent to President Barack Obama, Governor Andrew Cuomo, United States Senators Charles Schumer, and Kirsten Gillibrand, Congressman Chris Collins, New York State Senator Michael Ranzenhofer, New York State Assemblyman Steve Hawley, Inter-County Association of Western New York and the New York
State Association of Counties.

Y N Simple 2/3
1. Cianfrini 28 42
2. Bausch 45 55
3. Lawrence 43 51
4. Hancock 47 57
5. Stein 43 52
6. Leadley 38 45
7. Ferrando 26 38
8. Clattenburg 28 40
9. DeJaneiro 28 40
TOTALS 326 420
Roll Call
Approval 164 280