My View: Forum on state gun law ends with poorly done resolution

According to reporter estimates, more than 1,000 people filed into the UPAC theater last Tuesday night to present their views on whether the recently passed NY Safe Act regulating guns should be repealed.

People who said yes expressed fear that without access to current weapons their personal safety and the capacity to fight back against the United States government if it became tyrannical would be compromised. Those arguing against repeal pointed to personal tragedies and the exceptionally high rate of gun related deaths and injuries in the U.S.

So what's wrong with the above scenario? Let me count the ways:

1) Respect and decorum were absent. Gun supporters vehemently booed and jeered each speaker that suggested one or more provisions of the Safe Act were beneficial — even going so far as to boo a person who was holding back tears while sharing how her nephew was paralyzed by gunshots.

Bully tactics were in full play that evening, even though the Legislature chair stated that anyone disruptive would be removed from the meeting. Amazingly, no one was removed.

2) Despite flag-waving and the expressed love of country and Constitution, there seemed to be little respect for democracy and First Amendment rights. In addition to open hostility toward SAFE ACT supporters, there was also aggression toward legislators.

Prior to voting, we were accused of being ignorant and unworthy of our positions and told that we should be arrested for "treason" if we vote the wrong way. Even the minority leader was disrupted from speaking by loud jeering and noises.

3) $1,200 of your tax dollars was used to rent the UPAC facility, and more was spent to pay for all the essential added security (fyi, New York law still allows concealed weapons in theaters and most everywhere).

4) It is most important for people to understand that this whole exercise was only for a memorializing resolution. The Safe Act is passed in New York state and is already being challenged in court, which is the entity that our Founding Fathers intended to be the interpreter of the Constitution.

I am hopeful that this isn't the start of a string of new county legislative memorializing resolutions on other controversial subjects, since it just adds taxpayer expense and takes attention away from real and needed Ulster County financial oversight and policymaking decisions.

The end result of all this was a poorly construed, one-sided resolution that is being sent to state and national political leaders expressing that Ulster County would like all regulation of guns contained in the Safe Act or any other law — including, presumably, laws already affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court — to be repealed.

Another result is that the way this all played out adds to the hostile environment and precludes bipartisan efforts that are needed to get things done.

Ken Wishnick is Ulster County legislator for New Paltz and SW Esopus.

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