Niagra gun owners hold rally over NY gun laws

When we think of New York, it’s easy to think of the entire state as basically being a suburb of New York City and sharing the city’s politics. That’s not remotely true, however. A lot of people in the state value things like their gun rights.

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That’s why a group of gun owners in Niagra County held a rally recently.

Hundreds of people gathered Wednesday evening at the Frontier Fire Hall in Wheatfield. Second Amendment for Ever, Inc (SAfe) partnered with Iroquois Arms Collectors to host second amendment supporters and gun owners.

“This is a very important document,” said Wendy Dominski. “Our forefathers fought and died for this document. This is what we stand for right here.”

“It’s time for counties band together and restore some balance in the state,” said Ed Pettitt. “We’re taking an unprecedented measure to address these. The measure is going to be to recommend that the Niagara County Legislature pass a resolution authorizing the county to sue the state and to join with other counties in this lawsuit.”

The problem here is that New York created gun laws designed to please people in Manhattan, not Niagra County. The truth is, most of the lawmakers simply don’t care.

But these are people’s rights, and if Niagra County sues the state of New York over this kind of thing, that’s a good use of taxpayer money. After all, rights belong to everyone, so defending those rights is only good and just.

And if it ends up before the Supreme Court and shatters the illusion that all of this is what Justice Clarence Thomas meant when he wrote the Bruen decision, well, so much the better.

New York, however, will never be friendly to gun owners. Lawmakers don’t respect the right to keep and bear arms because, frankly, they don’t have to. Some who represent the rural parts of the state will at least pay lip service to it, mostly because they have to, but the rest don’t because they’re beholden to anti-gun zealots in the larger cities in the state.

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That means the only way to defend the right to keep and bear arms is through the judicial branch of government.

My sincere hope is that lawmakers in the state will wake up to what they’re doing and start changing laws for the better. However, I’m not deluded enough to expect that hope to ever become reality.

That means impartial judges and sound legal arguments based on the precedent set out in cases like Bruen are the only viable tool people in places like Niagra County really have. I’m glad to see gun owners stepping up and making the right calls.

Now, the next step is to act upon those calls so we can overturn not just these laws, but the others that will likely follow in the wake of New York’s efforts.

At least one federal judge believes the laws to be unconstitutional–the only remain in effect because of a standing issue, not because of the legal arguments–so maybe it’s time to take advantage of that fact.

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