RESOLUTION 41-13
RESOLUTION TO PROTECT OUR 2nd AMENDMENT RIGHTS
By Councilman John M. Stortecky
Town of Benson
Dated: February 13, 2013
WHEREAS, the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution as ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, reads: “ A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”, and
WHEREAS, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a gun-control law passed by the New York State Senate and the Assembly, which was formulated and passed under the cover of darkness and without debate, which he had pushed through after allowing only 20 minutes to 2 hours to be read before a vote was taken. He
clearly pushed the bill to passage to boost his own political career, saying “Common sense can win. You can overpower the extremists with intelligence and with reason and with common sense.”, and
WHEREAS, this vote was taken and passed in the same way as Obamacare and absolutely lacking in common sense, as Fulton County Sheriff said “I am appalled. The Legislature has back-doored the American people and walked all over the Constitution of the United States.”, and
WHEREAS, the Governor presented his case for magazine limits by shrieking out his misguided views in the tradition of Hillary Clinton and Howard Dean and embarrassing himself and our State in front of the Nation, and
WHEREAS, an editorial in the Leader-Herald newspaper stated “The limitation of weapons magazines to seven rounds-three rounds below the federal limit-seems like nonsense. What makes seven the magic number?”, and
WHEREAS, Senator Greg Ball said “We haven’t saved any lives tonight, except one: the political life of a governor who wants to be president. We have taken an entire category of firearms that are currently legal that are in the homes of law-abiding, tax paying citizens. We are now turning those law-abiding citizens into criminals.”, and
WHEREAS, Senator Hugh Farley and Assemblyman Marc Butler strongly oppose the gun-control law, and Assemblyman Butler wrote a column in which he said “I am flabbergasted at how the 2013 legislation session began. The principles of transparency and good government were turned on their heads on
January 14 and 15, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed his dangerously flawed gun-control bill through the Legislature with a message of necessity. His bold move shut down the voices of millions-those who believe in their Second Amendment rights-but more importantly, their right to participate in
government. I worry that this ‘my way or the highway’ attitude from Cuomo will be a detriment to upstate New York”, and 52 New York State Sheriffs have sent a letter to the Governor, which in part reads “There are a number of provisions in the law which our Association finds to be helpful to law enforcement and to our citizens. Those are pointed out in our position statement. There are also a
number of provisions which cause us concern, and which we think should be revisited. Those we also point out in the position statement.”, and
WHEREAS, Cal Thomas has written “The latest effort to ‘control’ guns in America is as likely to deter someone intent on breaking the law as outlawing lust would affect one’s libido. What’s in a heart can’t be controlled by restricting what’s in a hand.” He also writes “You know rational thinking is lacking when Pravda, Russia’s communist political newspaper, makes sense. In a recent article, Stanislav Mishin writes that after the Bolsheviks seized Moscow in 1917, they promised to leave alone the well-armed citizens if they did not interfere.” They did not interfere, and for that they were asked afterwards “to come register themselves and their weapons, whereupon they were promptly shot.” Mr. Thomas continues “The Second Amendment was written to protect citizens from tyrannical government and to preserve our liberties. It’s not primarily for the protection of hunters and target shooters, though they are included. Those politicians who wish to ignore the Constitution are the ones who need to be
controlled, not law-abiding gun owners.”, and
WHEREAS, Thomas Sowell writes “If, as gun control advocates claim, gun control laws really do control guns and save lives, there is nothing to prevent repealing the Second Amendment, any more than there was anything to prevent repealing the Eighteenth Amendment that created Prohibition. But, if the hard
facts show that gun control laws do not actually control guns, but instead lead to more armed robberies and higher murder rates after law-abiding citizens are disarmed, then gun control laws would be a bad idea, even if there were no Second Amendment and no National Rifle Association.” He continues, saying
“One can cherry-pick the factual studies , or cite some studies that have subsequently been discredited, but the great bulk of the studies show that gun control laws do not in fact control guns. On net balance, they do not save lives but cost lives.”, and
WHEREAS, Charles C.W. Cooke writes the National Review magazine “It makes little philosophical sense for the elected representatives of a government that is subordinate to the people to be able to disarm those people. An enlightened state may not remove from the people the basic rights that are recognized in the very document to which it owes its existence. To ask, ‘Why do you need an AR-15?’ is
to invert the relationship. A better question: ‘Why don’t you want me to have one?’” Therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Town Board, Town of Benson, respectfully requests that each member of the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors do everything within their power to protect and defend the 2nd Amendment rights of all the citizens of Hamilton County, and in doing so protect their own rights and
the rights of all Americans, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. We ask that you remember the words of Benjamin Franklin, who said “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”, and finally, Thomas Jefferson:
“It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”
Motion to adopt Resolution #41-13 as drafted: Shepard
Seconded: Gregor
Ayes: Shepard, Gregor, Stortecky
Nays: Cox
Absent: Pincombe