By Tom Precious
ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo today pushed back hard against sheriffs around upstate who have been suggesting they will not be enforcing some provisions of his SAFE Act gun control bill.
After an appearance in the North Country this morning, Cuomo was asked about sheriffs who have been complaining about the gun law since it was passed in January. Sheriffs upstate have made public comments over the months that they have no interest in enforcing what some believe to be an illegal piece of legislation.
“It’s not really up to law enforcement to pick and choose what laws they like and what laws they don’t like,’’ Cuomo told reporters after an event in Essex County. To do so, he said, would be “chaos.’’
“Their jobs is to enforce the law, all of the laws, whether they agree with it or not,’’ the governor said. Cuomo noted he disagreed with some state laws while he was attorney general, but he still enforced those laws. He did not describe what laws those were.
“The law is the law,’’ Cuomo said. For sheriffs not to enforce provisions of the gun control law would be a “dangerous and frightening precedent.’’