NY Sheriffs Join Together To Sue Gov. Cuomo For Infringing Gun Rights

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AUTHOR Bookworm

May 26, 2013 4:34pm PST

After Sandy Hook, New York rushed into law a package gun control provisions that were so poorly drafted they temporarily disarmed New York police forces. While the legislature was too busy to pass decent laws, it nevertheless did manage to come up with a snappy acronym for the laws: SAFE Act (“Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act”).

(Read More: New York Gun Confiscation Goes Wrong.)

The name may be optimistic, since several sheriffs in New York have complained that the act is unworkable. Sheriffs are so concerned about enforcement issues, that the New York State Sheriffs’ Association, along with five individually named sheriffs, is planning on support a lawsuit that the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. filed against Governor Cuomo.

(Read More: N.Y. Man Arrested For Carrying Pistol With 9 Bullets, New Law Outlaws More Than 7.)

Erie County Sheriff Timothy Howard, one of the five individuals seeking to join the federal lawsuit, says that enforcing the SAFE Act is a waste of resources, diverting sheriffs from their job. According to Howard, “It’s an unenforceable law. I believe it will ultimately be declared to be unconstitutional.”

(Read More: Former Navy SEAL on Gun Grabbing Polticians: “Arrogant…Selfish, and Its Dangerous.”)

As far as Howard and his fellow sheriffs are concerned, existing laws provided sheriffs and the public with all the protection they need against gun crimes. The new laws are burdensome and unnecessary. In their petition to their court, the Sheriffs’ Association and individual sheriffs allege that

The Supreme Court has confirmed that the Second Amendment protects arms typically possessed by law-abiding citizens, and identified that the right of self-defense is ‘core’ protected conduct that is at its zenith in the home. At a minimum, laws that criminalize the most common rifle in America today – a rifle that is often selected precisely for its self-defense capabilities – impinge upon that core right. The same is true of laws banning standard-capacity magazines.

(Read More: Depressed? NY Is Confiscating Your Guns.)

Aside from opposing the law as a general matter, the sheriffs argue that the hastily drafted law is “fatally vague” with measures that “law enforcement officers are inherently unable to fairly and uniformly enforce.”