In a near-unanimous vote, the Delaware County Board of Supervisors voted on Wednesday, February 27 to pass a resolution opposing the SAFE Act, New York State's new gun control law.
The resolution that was passed (embedded below) is a slightly different one than the resolution that was initially brought forward by Deposit supervisor Tom Axtell.
Board chairman Jim Eisel, supervisor of Harpersfield, told the Watershed Post that at Wednesday's meeting, two supervisors objected to the wording of several items in the initial resolution: Marge Miller of Middletown and Dennis Valente of Davenport.
"[Miller] felt there were some inaccuracies in it. She moved to table it, and Dennis Valente seconded it," Eisel said.
Rather than send the resolution back to committee and delay a vote by another month, Eisel said, he opted to take a recess and rewrite the resolution on the spot.
"I'd really like to strike while the iron was hot," Eisel said. "We wanted to get this through so we could send it to the governor."
In its opening clause, the new resolution quotes the Second Amendment word-for-word. The older draft stated that "the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees each law-abiding American citizen the right to keep and bear arms of his or her choice" -- an interpretation that goes beyond the actual text of the Constitution.
The resolution was also shortened somewhat from its original text.
Despite the changes, Miller, an Independent, voted against the resolution. She was the only supervisor to do so, Eisel said.
Miller told the Watershed Post that although she had no intention of supporting the resolution, she wanted to make sure it was factually accurate before the board passed it.
"It was so overwritten and bloviated," Miller said. "I feel that our resolution should be accurate, it should be concise and clear, and specific to Delaware County and its people. It should reflect our interests and our issues, and it should do so in a way that is worthy of review."
Defending her "no" vote on the resolution, Miller said that she believes that more gun regulation is necessary in downstate areas that do not have Delaware County's long tradition of widespread gun ownership.
"We are very much in the minority in New York State. We in Delaware County understand guns, we respect them, and we have a tradition of owning guns," Miller said. "But these mass shootings are happening in the suburbs, and these laws are cast to protect the majority of people, which in New York State are in the urban and suburban areas."
Like other local town and county resolutions about matters of state and federal law, Delaware County's resolution against the SAFE Act has no legal force.
Over 20 upstate New York counties have passed similar resolutions.
Below: The text of Delaware County's newly adopted resolution opposing the SAFE Act.
Delaware County Resolution Opposing SAFE Act by Watershed Post
