Gallery: NY SAFE opponents rally at the Capitol

As the TU’s Kristen Brown reports:






“I was just made a criminal,” he said.

Times Union photographer Cindy Schultz’s images can be seen above.

  1. The US Flag says:

    @Real Nice-
    If I was on a ship whether or not it was on a lake or ocean and I was flying the US Flag upside down and you didn’t help you would be the must non-American in America.
    Gun owners are not against the background check, try buying a legal gun at a store or a gun show, a background check is required before you can purchase a gun. If it is a pistol you must request a pistol permit. Could take up to 1 year in NYS. It is registering the guns we are against. Once they are registered the confiscation will come next.
    And will everyone stop calling these “AR” rifle “Assault Rifles.” The Military “AR” are “Assault Rifles”, (capable of shooting Automatic and Semi-Automatic.) The “AR” you buy in a Store stands for Automatic Rifle but can only shoot 1 bullet at a time.

    If you owned a legal gun would you shoot Kids? Why do you think everyone with a legal gun would shoot kids? Or do you want to weaken the 2nd Amendment?

  2. EmpowerTheWeak says:

    @narrow minded — Maybe it’s because a lot of younger gun rights advocates aren’t the narrow minded traditionalists their [grand]parents are.

    “Liberal” meant “liberty” (yes, I agree, not the case today); “Conservative” came from the idea of “conserving liberty”, not the traditionalist rigidity we see today.

    So if your priority is liberty or “freedom”, take a good hard look at what the difference is between “liberty” and “tradition”.

    Gays, guns and girls: I support freedom for all three.

  3. Big Al says:

    Look at all those traitors supporting a upside down flag. Such disrespect to the Colors make me sick. I think the law in itself is good. I would have permitted Assault Weapons on your license. But reading these blogs make me think that Cuomo did the right thing. No need for traitors to have assault weapons.

  4. I vote Not Cuomo in 2016 says:

    Cuomo jumped on the band wagon to take away gun owner rights.He has seriously damaged his chance for President in 2016. Yes Andrew not only do a lot of people in New York dislike you but certainly nationwide

  5. Claire says:

    Sounds like this was a midnight action with no citizen input. Extremist tyrants at both the state and national level, and a lot of people don’t even see it. Wake up, citizens, or the bodysnatchers will have control of you. Oh, wait–they already do.

  6. Marianne says:

    They took away our right to repeat the pledge of allegiance in the classroom. They’re trying their darndest to take away “Merry Christmas”, now they’re trampling on OUR 2nd amendment. What will be next? I don’t want MY country turned in to a dictatorship country which is happening little by little. Keep the fight going on this crazy gun control law! I’m just glad I live in Florida now. I no longer have to listen to that loony of a governor in NY!

  7. ManifestOSportsman says:

    Lets close more of the “loopholes” left in this law that allows private reloading of ammunition, no private sales of ammunition components, reloading equipment, private ownership of assault weapon components like stocks, and insurance requirements for all guns. Loopholes like requiring those selling ammo to have it locked, secured and manifested, like spraypaint in albany county. With registration comes the insurance industry with big lobbyist bribe money begging and drooling at well over 1 million customers in NY. The state sees is at Free Enforcement. This is a big politican money grab.

    Funny how todays Videos on the TU show Katy Perry wearing a stars and stripes outfit at the innauguration, enough about the flag. The problem that we see is these anti gun laws are affecting sportsman like you havent seen yet. A box of 300 WM, hunting purposes only, shells is going to double in cost, stores will not stock much ammo, and you arent going to be able to get them on the spot. These ammo serve no other purpose than for hunting and they are now going to be difficult to purchase. Just like the politicians said the background checks would only affect sales from gunshops, not private transactions, which they now call a loophole, ammunition is going to become more expensive. There is no talk in this law banning reloading, that is going to be added next.

  8. Real Nice says:

    The US Flag—You call these people in distress??? Really. I see no comparison between a ship being is distress and this fiasco at the Capitol. (Thank You Big Al) You are against registering your gun? You’re afraid the next step is taking them away? What a laugh you are. Did any of you watch Colin Powell on Morning Joe this morning? If you didn’t, too bad. He made a lot more sense than any of you are making. Maybe “US” if it was your child or a friend or relative’s child in Newtown riddled with bullets and you had to identify the body of this little child you might feel different.

  9. Confitaxation says:

    Any modern politician knows, if you want to control or abolish a behavior, you do it gradually and through registration type regulation and fees or taxes. That way you at least profit from what is a diminishing revenue source, similar to cigarettes. For guns, the first step is set up gun registration and ammunition control systems. Notice no regulatory discussion of fee limits for all this additional required state program administration spending? Once you have set up the regulation structure, the rest is simple to accomplish. Insurance companies have big lobbyist dollars available once that registration is required and they are drooling at the over 1Million NYS gun owners who will require insurance. Since the voting majority is downstate controled, where guns are already somewhat abolished, passing amendments to fee gun owners to disarmment will be very simple. Case in point, the governor and president have both made recent statements that they have no problem with the hunters rights. It is very clear though, that their actions are going to make the cost of hunting equipment now skyrocket and hunting will be incrimentally made prohibitively expensive.

  10. Bob says:


    Don’t be too sure. Unfortunately, I think for most gun rights activists, murders of children are the price we pay for their gun ‘rights’.

  11. honestabe says:

    Bob: that’s an irresponsible comment. You should be ashamed.
    Big Al: upside down flag symbolizes distress. The gentleman carrying it Saturday explained that as he made his way through the crowd. Was very clear that it was not a sign of disrespect.
    I saw several dozen, if not more, young people at the rally. They took part in a constitutionally protect act. Let’s hope they don’t read this blog and witness adults acting in a way we have taught them not to act.
    Finally, why is the demographic of the protester important? Some saw old white guys, I saw veterans of Korea, Vietnam and perhaps the gulf wars. Certainly they’ve got a special right to speak their minds.

  12. elmer says:

    LOL at the picture all the “patriots” wearing their hats while apparently reciting the Pledge of Allegiance!

    BTW, those of us not on the right fringe would like that word (patriot) back please. While I feel I am patriotic, I would die before identifying myself as a “patriot” these days.

  13. Gemeniguy says:

    My take on this is that Cuomo is counting on the majority of New York firearm owners being fudds and that eventually the controversy will die down. I live in the Northern Adirondacks and every firearm owner I know is a hunter fudd. I don’t know a single person up who owns an AR-15 and most up here couldn’t afford one even in they wanted one. Just about everyone I do know does own a Ruger 10-22 and if you tell them they can only load 7 rounds in their 10-round clip they’ll laugh in your face.

  14. mike says:

    Hey Rob. This SAFE law is their way of chipping away our rights as an american. You want to lay down and let it happen? Oh by the way expect your state and local taxes to go up. You and I will be paying for this non productive laws. The only thing good about it is raising the jail time for these crimes.

  15. Albany Citizen says:

    Here is some replies to slogans of gun law opponents -
    “8 months fetus in garbage is legal and 8 rounds in a gun is illegal’
    -So you don’t want to kill fetus but you like them killed after they grow up

    ” Guns do not Kill, people kill people ”
    – So let there be guns, but not in the hands of people who can kill.

    ” Does a poll with 675 samples has any meaning”
    Yes, it does carry a meaning if sample is selected in proper manner. It is a science, statistical method you need to understand if you like to know.

    The new law does not take away any one’s gun, it is not against 2nd amendment, and any one whose heart has moved by the funeral scenes of innocent children of Newtown, CT will support this law.

  16. Bob says:

    @honestabe: What’s irresponsible is the determination of gun rights activists to make guns more and more available without restriction, while people are being slaughtered by those same guns.

  17. J says:

    We all feed bad about the tragedy in Connecticut as well as others, but it’s the price we pay for freedom. Freedom is not free.

  18. Lawrence W Ratcliffe says:

    I think it was this past December 16th (not sure), a gunman in San Antonio, Texas walked into his wife’s office and shot her, then proceeded to the Cinema near by to continue killing. That is where he met an armed guard, that was an off duty policewoman. When she confronted him, he brandished the weapon and the guard shot him dead. Moral of the story, armed guard saves many lives, as it should be!

  19. Remember years ago the Government told us Color people are bad, different.., remember Hitler saying if you are a Jew or look like a Jew you are bad and must be removed. We now have a dictator telling us if it LOOKS like an assault weapon it must be an assault weapon (bad) and you must register it or it will be taken away (confiscated.)
    Did people have a say in this? D0 Governors pass laws in the middle of the night? Do Dictators listen to the people before approving a Law?

    Here we have someone, in the middle of the night, without input from the people (voters) of NYS, pass a Law, basically weakling the “Bill of Rights” that he is elected to support and promise to uphold, turns his back on the people of NYS.

    What other Laws will be approved in the middle of the night that will weaken ours rights? Maybe the 1st amendment will be next.
    We must not let the Governor dictate his feeling over the “Bill of Rights” in the middle of the night. NYS does not need Bullies or Dictators.
    Bullies and Dictators never change their ways or mind because it makes them look weak and people who support them are in the same category.

    Have you noticed that most Laws do not apply to Elected or retired Elected Officials? And because the people love them so much they need armed body guards. Think about it.

  20. Albany Citizen says:

    @J- Equating gun ownership with freedom is ridiculous.
    Our freedom is not threatened as a nation. We have the best army in the world to protect our freedom. Join them if you wish and use guns with them.
    We have democracy and our votes to change our internal policies. Our democracy is being manipulated by money power including gun business. This is real threat to our freedom. Freedom is freeing our politics and economy from vested interests of big corporations, Super PACs etc. Govt can be changed by peaceful means and we take pride in peaceful transition of power. In today’s world face book brought Arab spring in Egypt. Talking of using guns for everything is an obsolete thought suitable for 18th century. For our safety in homes we need to free our society from guns, drugs and crime. Improve law enforcement and reduce response time of 911.
    In today’s world our freedom will be preserved by improving economy, education and innovation. If not we will be overtaken by other countries which are growing at a faster rate. Just as some republican ads during election showed Chinese people saying – ” Today they work for us”. This is the real threat to our freedom.

  21. Gemeniguy says:

    “For our safety in homes we need to free our society from guns, drugs and crime.”

    We’ll sit around the campfire and sing Kumbaya. Works every time.

  22. clue says:

    some of the comments in here show just how naieve our society is.


    New York liberalism is making access to drugs like pot easier! Do you contend we do away with the biggest problem causing drug, alcohol? If criminals know the population is disarmed, they wont have that disincentive, will they.

    SAFE is just a step toward taking money gun owners and from one industry sector, involved in manufacturing, distribution of gun products to the state coffers, the legal system, to the insurance industry, and who know what other special interests are poised to see windfall profits from the SAFE implementation.

  23. Down With Pedro says:

    Walked by the rally on my way to an event around noon – if a four porta-pottie event is the best the “guns rights” people can muster, their cause is even more hopeless than they think. By 4PM there was little sign they had ever been there. And who exactly was reached, anyways? The legislators weren’t in town, and the people of Albany could hardly have cared about them except for the closure of one block of Swan Street.

    But if it gives them an outlet to vent, what the heck. I am sure some of the local eateries got some business out of the crowd.

  24. tom baker says:

    ” Does a poll with 675 samples has any meaning”

    Yes, it means that 675 / 20 millionths of the State’s population were surveyed LOL

  25. tom baker says:

    That’s 0.00003375 if it helps

  26. Both sides can disagree on what is reasonable and sensible gun control. Both sides have legitimate issues. The legislation has been passed, unfortunately without real honest debate. Now the only recourse to address repressive parts of the law are filing of lawsuits. The courts will decide what is reasonable and sensible. Both sides of the issue are afraid of a possible decision against their point of view. As the gun right side has had their property and rights violated they have no choice but to seek litigation. As always it won’t surprise me to see lower courts on both the state and federal level uphold the legislation. Ultimately this will be decided by the SCOUS. Given the last two gun right issues decided by the SCOUS I would place odds at 5-4 that some portions of the legislation would be found un-constitutional.

  27. Down with Pedro says:

    Hey tom baker, how did doubting the general integrity of pollsters work out for you conservatives last year?

  28. Getting Fridays Off says:

    @ Lawrence – “Moral of the story, armed guard saves many lives, as it should be!”

    Too bad the armed guards in Littleton didn’t do a darn thing to save the lives of the kids that day.

    And then there was that article the other day about an armed guard in school who left their gun in a school bathroom the other day.

    I can see this ending well.

  29. Gemeniguy says:

    And who exactly was reached, anyways?

    75 million American firearm owners, the bane of the liberal hacks.

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