Ranzenhofer releases statement on budget resolution

I'll bet $31M remains in the budget for the Unsafe Act. Our gutless Senator has made no effort to get that pulled prior to the vote.

Senator Ranzenhofer, are you deaf or brain-dead to the call from your district to put removal of the SAFE Act as priority #1? Obviously there are lobbyist who have more clout than your constituents.

You swore an Oath to support the Constitution of the United States. That Constitution includes the Bill of Rights which guarantees the individuals right to "bear arms"... with no limitations, restrictions, or regulations. NYSAFE blatantly violates that, and you have done NOTHING to remove that infringement!

The call went out to the "new" GOP majority in the Senate to block passage of the budget if there was funding for NYSAFE in it. Senator Ranzenhofer you don't even make mention of it... you really don't give a damn do you?!!!

I hope the so-called conservative Republican supporters of Senator Ranzenhofer have their eyes and ears open, because they are not being well served by their chosen one!

The 2nd Amendment..."A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the right belongs to private individuals, while also ruling that the right is not unlimited and does not prohibit all regulation of either firearms or similar devices

Last November when I voted I had my pro 2nd Amendment right's group fact sheet which tells me who voted ya or nay to protect my right to bear arms.
Handed the handy piece of paper off to my daughter who voted next, she handed it off to her sister who in turn handed it off to her brother as each voted.

There is a more important issue for the legislators...western New York has the highest property tax rate in the NATION. This is the tax rate as measured against the value of the home. Orleans County is #1, Monroe #2, Niagara #3, Wayne #4, GENESEE #5.. I wish New Yorkers would fight the tax rates as hard as they do the SAFE act.

Property tax rates are more a local issue...Blame your local city county or school system for these over the top tax rates.The size of theses governments are the problem..Genesse county has less then 60,000 people in it...But have too many layers of government inside of it..

Agree, but many unfunded mandates are passed down to the local governments by the state. More needs to be done to make sure western New York is treated fairly in the state budget...an example being school funding.

Daniel as far as school funding not all programs the school district runs are mandated by the sate .Full day kindergarten and pre-k ,after school programs are not....Bus monitors are not..Many want to blame mandates but to me that is just a scapegoat for not doing more to bring done costs..On county government level.Airports aren't mandated,and this county is going to go millions in dept to build a terminal...On a city level BDC and VB aren't mandated..So don't blame mandates for the high cost of property taxes on Albany....the merits of all these programs can be debated,but they are cost drivers..

Agree again. I'll give you another example taken from many southern states I have lived in...there is only one county school superintendent and one business office for the county. Everything is handled through the central office. Each school maintains its identity, but school buses have the county name on them. Another example....why are there as many as 4 layers of highway departments. I agree with you but some of the fault resides with the state and the bloated government there.

Daniel as you see you can't always blame mandates..but your right the state need to cut their size also.and neither Mr.Hawley or Mr. Ranzenhofer seems to be able to make this happen..

Excellent discussion...I wish our politicians would do the same.

Dan, though there are several issues that are of major importance, they do not violate our Constitution as NYSAFE does. That fact alone should be grounds for setting the priority of dealing with the issues.

Mark is right about the local government being the fault of the tax burden. If it was state mandated Orleans, Niagara, Genesee, etc would all be pretty much the same.

If it violated the Constitution it would have been struck down long ago. The fact is the Supreme Court has ruled, as I stated earlier, that the right is not unlimited and does not prohibit all regulation of either firearms or similar devices ( Epstein, Lee; Walk, Thomas G. (Sep 18, 2012). Constitutional Law for a Changing America: Rights, Liberties and Justice (8 ed.). CQ Press. pp. 395–396. ISBN 978-1-4522-2674-3.)

Dan, there are many very much smarter than you or I who are saying the NYSAFE is unConstitutional. Although the Supreme Court has said that the right is not unlimited and does not prohibit all regulation, it also said "the federal government and the states could limit any weapon types not having a “reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia”". Reading this and applying logic, one would have to say that the militia should and would have any weapons that any adversary might have.

If NYSAFE is Constitutional why would the Attorney Generals of 22 other US States join together to pursue a lawsuit against NYS and Cuomo for NYSAFE violating the 2nd Amendment? http://freebeacon.com/issues/twenty-two-states-support-lawsuit-against-…