SAFE Act remains unpopular in Upstate

Editor:

In response to the letter submitted by the group “New Yorkers Against Gun Violence”.

Upstate New York is treated differently in many ways from Downstate New York State. Most recently in the news are the issues of minimum wage, ride hailing services like Uber and Lyft, and education funding.

While gun ownership has increased significantly over the last 20+ years, especially notable in the past several years with month after month of record NICS Checks, the rate of gun violence and homicides has dropped over 50 percent.

The exceptions to those statistics would be the increase in gun violence in cities that have been run by Liberal Democrats for generations – like Chicago. If you were to look at the statistics from the Bureau of Justice over the past 20 years, you would see that Non-Lethal Firearms Victimizations have dropped from about 6 per 1,000 citizens to less than 2 per 1,000 citizens.

Firearms Fatalities have dropped from about 7 per 100,000 citizens to about 3.4 per 100,000 citizens. That is over a 50 percent reduction in each category. Perhaps New Yorkers Against Gun Violence should pick up a “Reliable” source on this matter like the book “More Guns, Less Crime” by John R. Lott, Jr., PhD.

Also, stated in their letter was the “overwhelming bi-partisan support” that voted in support of the SAFE ACT.  I’m not sure if I would consider passing a bill in the middle of the night under the guise of a Message of Necessity, without the legislators having a chance to study it, let alone to speak to their constituents overwhelming support? The actual lack of support can be seen when you learn that 52 of 62 New York State Counties (83%) passed Resolutions in Opposition to the SAFE ACT. There were only two Counties north of Westchester County that did not oppose it, Albany County and Tompkins County, no surprises there. With that amount of “Overwhelming Opposition” I cannot understand how the most recent Sienna poll could possibly say that statewide 60 percent of registered voters support the SAFE Act. Unless you consider that a disproportionate number of registered voters live Downstate.

Also, noted in the letter that New York gun ownership is low – 18 percent. Again, that number is due to the fact that the majority of New York’s population is Downstate, New York City. It is nearly impossible to own a gun there unless you are wealthy and/or politically connected. I think you would find the percentage of citizens with firearms much higher Upstate.

The NY SAFE ACT was a terrible law that was ill conceived and hastily passed. It has nothing to do with safety. Criminals by their very definition do not obey laws and will not obey the provisions of the SAFE ACT. It only takes away the rights of the honest citizens of this State. It is no wonder why people are leaving New York State in such large numbers looking for freedom from such tyrannical laws and exorbitant taxes.

Sincerely,

Christopher S. Rice

Albion