Ulster County Legislature: Support the SAFE Act

We, the undersigned people of Ulster County, oppose the Ulster County Legislature's Draft Resolution No. 0154, "Opposing The Process Of Enactment And Certain Provisions Contained Within The New York SAFE Act," to be voted on by the full County Legislature on February 19, 2013. We are concerned about the escalating epidemic of gun violence in our country and support good faith measures, like the New York SAFE Act and President Obama's initiatives, to curb it.

We are not challenging the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But unlike proposed Draft Resolution No. 0154, we do not see it as a right that trumps all other rights, including the right of citizens to be free from deadly gun violence. In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court said: "Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited." The Second Amendment does not confer "a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever for whatever purpose." The court specifically affirmed support for "prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons,” a description that surely fits the numerous assault weapons that are too freely available to virtually anybody. We agree.

We specifically reject the Ulster County Legislature's Draft Resolution No. 0154 provision that requests "the repeal of any legislation, including the sections within the NY SAFE Act (Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2013), which infringe upon the right of the people to keep and bear arms."