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Howard Scores Big Election Win

Thanks to Cuomo's Gun Law

By Frank Parlato

Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard
Andrew Cuomo

Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard won re-election thanks to the votes of supporters of the US Constitution and gun owners.

Despite prisoner escapes, including Ralph "Bucky" Phillips, who, after escaping, killed a state trooper and injured two others; the mistaken releases of prisoners; suicides at the jail and prison; and criticism for overcrowded conditions at the Erie County Holding Center, Howard became only the third Erie County sheriff since 1821 to be elected to three consecutive four-year terms.

Howard, a Republican, most likely owes his re-election to a Democrat, Gov. Andrew Cuomo. It was Cuomo who gave Howard his election platform.

And it was Cuomo who pushed his hastily designed New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act(NY SAFE Act)with an emergency "message of necessity" provision allowing legislators just 20-minutes to read the bill to avoid normal debate.

It was passed, in the dead of night, by the New York State Legislature, on January 15, 2013. It is the strongest gun control law in the USA.

After the SAFEAct's passage, Sheriff Howard said, "I won't enforce it," and pro-freedom people and gun owners were thrilled.. Howard became their hero.

The SAFEAct, it has been argued, eviscerates the guiding principles behind the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution by making common, legally owned guns owned elsewhere in America illegal in New York State. It renders most firearms obsolete, useless and illegal by classifying them in New York as 'assault weapons.'

Perhaps its most controversial feature is that it bans guns with magazines over 10 rounds and makes it a Class D Felony to load more than seven rounds into any gun, even in one's home.

While many liberal, anti -freedom, big government supporters criticized Howard, saying he "doesn't get to pick and choose which laws he enforces," Howard said the SAFE Act is not law, since it is unconstitutional.

He is, of course, not alone in opposing it. The New York State Sheriffs' Association has published it opposition to the SAFE Act. Fifty-two of the 62 county legislatures in New York State have voted to oppose the SAFE Act and have sent letters of resolution to the governor voicing opposition to the SAFE Act. Even the Albany Police Department, where Cuomo resides in his governor's mansion, sent a letter of opposition to Cuomo that "condemns and opposes" the SAFE Act.

The 2nd Amendment, considered to be the palladium of the liberties of a republic, was, along with nine other amendments comprising the Bill of Rights, designed, admittedly, for the rights of individuals against the government.

It was ratified on December 15, 1791. The 2nd Amendment protects the right of individual Americans to own and carry guns.

The SAFE Act prohibits Americans living in New York to keep and carry guns that are commonly and legally owned by people in the rest of the United States.

It is acknowledged by most people that Cuomo passed the law one month after, and as a hasty reaction to the killing of 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., by a young man who was under the influence of psychiatric drugs.

Cuomo, who is seen by many political observers as a possible candidate for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, blamed guns, not the Newtown killer, or the drugs he used, and rushed passage of the SAFE Act without personally reading it, as he later acknowledged.

Because of the urgency attached to it by the governor, it was not read by most legislators, who passed it in the middle of the night. This is how major legislation is passed in New York.

"In every police officer's oath of office, the very first thing we raise our hand to is we're sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States," said Sheriff Howard, explaining why he won't enforce the SAFE Act. "Everything else comes after that. Any time there's a debate between the state and the federal Constitution, we've been taught and how it should be, the Constitution prevails."

 

 

Niagara Falls Reporter - Publisher Frank Parlato Jr. www.niagarafallsreporter.com

Nov 12, 2013