Rochester, N.Y. --- Governor Andrew Cuomo and supporters of the NY SAFE ACT touted a significant victory over gun violence when it was signed into law Tuesday afternoon.
The comprehensive legislation is considered by many to be the strictest gun control law in the nation and it establishes a number of new provisions and regulations.
It also being widely criticized by gun advocates who call many of those provisions an attack on their 2nd Amendment Rights and Constitutional freedoms. In response those critics are sounding off on radio airwaves and social media while also planning protests, boycotts, and legal action.
"People are upset, they're outraged, never in their lives have they felt this particularly oppressed by their government," said Bob Lonsberry a Conservative talk radio host for WHAM 1180-AM. Lonsberry fielded calls all morning from upset New Yorkers who seemed to frequently object to certain provisions in the Governor’s law.
"The two big things have absolutely nothing to do with assault weapons or high capacity magazines,” Lonsberry said of caller’s objections. “They have to do with this new requirement that every ammunition purchase requires a criminal background check. The other one is every handgun license has to be renewed every five years; you could've had one for 40 years and been a law-abiding citizen and now you have to renew it.”
The process by which the legislation was passed is another source of discomfort for some New Yorkers, even if they agree with the provisions included in the law. Gov. Cuomo unveiled the bill Monday night and it was delivered as a “Message of Necessity” which avoided a mandatory three-day “aging” process that is part of the typical legislative path.
"The process is probably the greatest sin of all because whether you want to own guns or not and whether you think this legislation is a good idea or not there is no way that any free citizen in a republic can support this,” Lonsberry said. “It was secret legislation passed in the dark of the night they purposefully kept all its provisions away from the public so there'd be no upset. People went to bed last night knowing nothing about it and they woke up this morning essentially it's the law of the land, that's not the way that America is supposed to operate.”
In response to the newly passed law others are planning ways for their voice of objection to be heard.
