Statement from Senator O'Mara on the February 28th rally in Albany against the NY SAFE Act ~ Watch Senator O'Mara addressing the rally's participants

Thomas F. O'Mara

Albany, N.Y., February 28—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R-C, Big Flats), who was one of 18 state senators who voted against the recently enacted NY SAFE Act and spoke at today’s protest rally in Albany, issued the following statement:

“I stand with many citizens and local leaders from across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions in opposition to the NY SAFE Act.  Equally important, we’re opposed to the shoddy legislative process that produced a law that’s full of failings and shortcomings, and places even more state-imposed burdens on already hard-pressed upstate citizens and localities.

“We understand that the odds are more than long that Governor Cuomo will suddenly reverse course and agree to repeal it on his own.  But this protest is going to have a lasting impact.  The SAFE Act is now the vehicle giving voice to the importance of the Second Amendment, but also to long-simmering frustrations and anger at a state government largely controlled by downstate, urban-oriented, liberal powers-that-be who couldn’t care less about upstate New York’s economic decline, upstate’s tax burden, our traditions and values, or our way of life.”

[watch Senator O'Mara addressing today's rally]

By some estimates, more than 5,000 opponents of the SAFE Act descended on Albany to call for the Act's repeal during a daylong rally outside the Capitol.

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