Ortt, Hawley respond to President’s gun control plan

State Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R-Batavia, and State Sen. Rob Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, are both critical of President Obama’s gun control plan announced on Tuesday.

Here is a statement issued by Hawley:

“President Obama’s Executive Action to increase background checks and toughen licensing requirements for firearms sales is misguided, ignores the democratic process and is the wrong approach for many areas of the country, including Western New York. While I agree that gun safety is a salient concern, rushing through new requirements and stipulations is contrary to our country’s principles of democracy and populous support.

“It is a poor reflection on our state’s leadership that Gov. Cuomo has praised Obama for abusing Presidential Powers. Gov. Cuomo has a lackluster record on properly vetting important issues as we saw with the SAFE Act and minimum wage. No executive should be abusing his authority as a way to side-step a Legislature that, in large part, does not support these initiatives.

“President Obama’s actions place a heavy financial and social burden on law-abiding firearm owners in exchange for pursuit of his ideological agenda. Western New York is filled with legal firearm owners who love to hunt, target shoot and buy, sell and trade firearms. Furthermore, rural citizens use firearms for home protection, especially in places where police are many miles away. The founding of our nation and the 2nd Amendment are inextricably linked and should never be suppressed in exchange for one man’s political pursuits.”

Ortt posted this statement on his Facebook page:

“Our 2nd Amendment rights are non-negotiable.

“The President has once again displayed blatant executive overreach to implement a radical policy. His past attempts at restricting the rights of gunowners and law-abiding Americans failed in the Legislature and are bound to fail in the courts for one simple reason – as Americans, we have a deep passion for the Second Amendment rooted in our U.S. Constitution.

“We do not believe that the Constitution is outdated. In fact, millions of peaceful gunowners today rely on the rights inherent in the Second Amendment for recreation, sport, and family protection. We need look no further than New York, at Governor Cuomo’s SAFE Act, to see what happens when liberal extremists push a hurried, deeply flawed agenda onto a law-abiding citizenry.”