NY SAFE Act Helps Elect A Sheriff

Just like opposition to ObamaCare allowed Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to almost win the governor's race, opposition to New York's anti-gun SAFE Act allowed Erie County Sheriff Timothy Howard (R) to win his third term.

Four words that he uttered at a news conference last May helped Timothy B. Howard win a third term as Erie County sheriff.

The words were “I won’t enforce it,” and Howard was talking about the SAFE Act, a controversial new state firearms law that has outraged gun owners.

The support of angry firearms owners helped the Republican sheriff to a big win Tuesday over his Democratic Party opponent, retired Sheriff’s Deputy Richard E. Dobson, and Sheriff’s Lt. Bert D. Dunn, a Law and Order Party candidate who lost the Democratic nomination in the September primary.

Erie County is home to Buffalo which is the second largest city in New York State. It is also home to a lot of hunters, shooters, and gun owners. Carl J. Calabrese, a former Erie County deputy county executive, thinks Howard's stance helped him win a lot of Democrats who wouldn't normally vote for a Republican saying, “A lot of Democrats are blue-collar people, union people, hunters and gun owners.”

Gun owners also worked hard to support Howard who supports the suit challenging the SAFE Act.

Howard supports a court challenge to the SAFE Act and has publicly stated that he won’t enforce the law, because in his view, it violates the constitutional rights of gun owners.

Gun owners worked hard to help Howard win, said Harold “Budd” Schroeder of Lancaster, chairman of the board of the Shooters Committee on Political Education. “Don’t you see the signs posted all over Erie County, opposing the SAFE Act? People are very upset about this.”

To be fair, some people did vote against Howard because they supported the SAFE Act but they were a low fewer than those who voted for him due to his opposition to it.