SAFE Act: One Year Later
WHEC-TV, updated 1/14/2014 6:48:11 PM ET
He said he made a promise and so far, he says he's kept his end of the bargain. That was Governor Cuomo last week at the State of the State Address. It's been nearly a year since the SAFE Act was passed. Some gun advocates say it was rushed through in the middle of the night.
News10NBC is hearing from some lawmakers who say that isn't exactly true.
The bill was passed in about 24 hours and while that is faster than normal, there was debate around it in the Assembly. It passed the Senate 43-18 and in the Assembly, the SAFE Act passed 104-45.
Republican Assemblyman Mark Johns was one of those "no" votes. He says he voted no because the bill was poorly constructed. Johns says, on January 14 last year, the Assembly read over the bill until midnight and when they returned on the 15, they debated it for five hours.
State lawmakers say it usually takes weeks to pass a bill. The bill then went to the Senate. It was passed and on to the governor's desk, he signed into law a half hour after it reached his desk.
Johns believes the bills has some good aspects, but says some of it punishes law abiding citizens and he doesn't agree with that.
The governor often cites tragedies like West Webster and Sandy Hook as why the safe act is needed. News10NBC asked Johns if he thinks that is appropriate.
Assemblyman Mark Johns said, "The governor has been talking abut these types of things before the Webster tragedy. The problem up in Sandy Hook in Connecticut is probably what started this whole thing going. To be fair to the governor, he's always thought this is a good idea, but upstate New York is not New York City and people up here who are law abiding citizens don't like to have to jump through extra hoops when they are already good people who would never go out and commit a crime."
NY Senators who voted for The SAFE Act
YES (43): Adams, Addabbo, Avella, Boyle, Breslin, Carlucci, Diaz, Dilan, Espaillat, Felder, Flanagan, Fuschillo, Gianaris, Gipson, Golden, Grisanti, Hannon, Hassell-Thomps, Hoylman, Kennedy, Klein, Krueger, Lanza, Latimer, LaValle, Marcellino, Martins, Montgomery, O'Brien, Parker, Peralta, Perkins, Rivera, Sampson, Sanders, Savino, Serrano, Skelos, Smith, Squadron, Stavisky, Stewart-Cousin, Valesky
NO (18): Ball, Bonacic, DeFrancisco, Farley, Gallivan, Griffo, Larkin, Libous, Little, Marchione, Maziarz, Nozzolio, O'Mara, Ranzenhofer, Ritchie, Robach, Seward, Young
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