Referred to: The Law Enforcement and Public Safety Committee (Chairman Briggs

and Legislators Fabiano, Provenzano, Ronk, and Wishnick)

Legislator Kenneth Ronk and Legislators Lopez, Wawro, Gerentine, Maloney,

Fabiano, Roberts, Litts, Maio, Belfiglio offer the following:

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 right of the people to keep and bear arms for defense of life,

liberty, and property is regarded as an inalienable right by the people of Ulster

County; and

WHEREAS, the lawful ownership of firearms is, and has been, a valued

tradition in Ulster County, and the rights protected by the Second Amendment to the

United States Constitution are exercised by many of our residents; and

WHEREAS, the NY Safe Act severely impacts the possession and use of

firearms now employed by the residents of Ulster County for defense of life, liberty,

and property; and

WHEREAS, this 2013 enacted law 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, the people of Ulster County derive economic and environmental

benefits from all safe forms of recreation involving firearms, including, but not

limited to, hunting and target shooting while utilizing all types of firearms legally

owned under 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, it is our understanding that many State Legislators had less than

an hour to read the legislation, which contained approximately twenty-five thousand

words, before being forced to vote on it; and

WHEREAS, having reviewed the law and time constraints, it is our

conclusion that there is no possible way any individual could have read the entire bill

and understood its full implications prior to voting on it; and

 

WHEREAS, our State Legislators most certainly could not have had the time

to request, and receive, the input of their constituents regarding this matter; and

WHEREAS, seeking and considering such public input is a standard to which

the Ulster County Legislature holds itself; and

WHEREAS, the mishandling of the process in crafting the NY SAFE Act

resulted in complex policy changes as a well as a State Supreme Court trial and order

issued April 30, 2015 to release simple information related to the State registry; 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 residents of New York State; and

WHEREAS, there has been a significant financial impact due to the

approximately 20,000 Ulster County permits that will be renewed which required

additional manpower and computer systems; and

WHEREAS, this law 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 non-law enforcement 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, limiting the number of rounds to seven versus ten is arbitrary and

capricious, has no correlation to public safety, unfairly burdens law-abiding citizen

gun owners, and puts an undue burden on gun manufacturers to retool their

manufacturing plants; and

WHEREAS, persons who comply with the new high-capacity magazine ban

are law-abiding citizens, leaving the same high-capacity magazines in the hands of

those who 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 another significant unfunded mandate on

business; and

WHEREAS, while there are some areas of the legislation that the Ulster

County Legislature finds encouraging, such as addressing glaring shortcomings in the

mental health system, the strengthening of Kendra’s Law and Mark’s law, as well as

privacy protections for certain of pistol permit holders, by-and-large, it finds the

legislation does little more then negatively impact lawful gun ownership; and

WHEREAS, this law fails to offer any meaningful solutions to gun violence

and places increased burdens where they do not belong, squarely on the backs of lawabiding citizens; and

WHEREAS, this law has effectively turned countless New York State lawabiding gun owners into criminals; and

WHEREAS, the manner in which this law was brought forward for vote in the

State Legislature is deeply disturbing to the Ulster County Legislature; now,

therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the Ulster County Legislature does hereby support the

passage of S511 of 2015 which would repeal the portions of the SAFE Act that

infringe on the rights of law abiding gun owners, while leaving intact important

sections providing for public safety and the general welfare of New York State

residents; and, be it further

RESOLVED, that the Ulster County Legislature strongly encourages members

of the New York State Legislature to hold public hearings to address the issue of gun

violence in a way that will produce meaningful results; and, further be it

RESOLVED, that the Clerk of the Ulster County Legislature shall forward

copies of this resolution to Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York State Senate

Majority Leader John Flanagan, New York State Senators James Seward, John J.

Bonacic, William J. Larkin, Jr. and George Amedore, Assembly Speaker Carl

Heastie, New York State Assemblymembers Kevin A. Cahill, Claudia Tenney, Frank

K. Skartados, and Peter Lopez,

 

and move its adoption.

ADOPTED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:

AYES: 13 NOES: 9

(Noes: Legislators Archer, Bartels, Donaldson,

Greene, Gregorius, J. Parete, Provenzano,

Rodriguez, and Wishnick)

(Legislator Allen left at 7:41 PM)

 

Defeated in Committee: Law Enforcement and Public Safety on June 1, 2015

Petition to Discharge successfully executed on June 3, 2015

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

NONE

STATE OF NEW YORK

 ss:

COUNTY OF ULSTER

I, the undersigned Clerk of the Legislature of the County of Ulster, hereby certify that the foregoing resolution is

the original resolution adopted by the Ulster County Legislature on the 16th Day of June in the year Two Thousand and

Fifteen, and said resolution shall remain on file in the office of said clerk.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of the County of Ulster this 18th Day of June in

the year Two Thousand and Fifteen.

|s| Victoria A. Fabella

Victoria A. Fabella, Clerk

Ulster County Legislature