Guns rights advocates have no one to blame but themselves for Governor Andrew Cuomo's re-election to a second term.
That's according to Steven Aldstadt, president of SCOPE-the Shooters Committee On Political Education-who told about 60 members of the fledgling Schoharie County chapter Friday that it wasn't Democrats who beat them at the polls on Election Day, but the lowest voter turnout since 1930.
Mr. Aldstadt was guest speaker for SCOPE's November meeting, held at the Carlisle Town Hall.
December's meeting will be at 6:30pm on the 11th at the Middleburgh Rod & Gun Club.
Formed by a group of gun owners in Western New York in 1965, SCOPE began gathering steam-and members-after the 2013 implementation of Governor Cuomo's SAFE Act.
Kevin Sission of Carlisle and Austin Czechowski of Cobleskill, a senior at Cobleskill-Richmondville Central School, are co-chairs of the local chapter and both were also speakers at Friday's meeting.
"The work we've undertaken is the most important work New York State citizens, American citizens, can do," Mr. Sisson said.
"Some people might think we're gun nuts. I want to say we're not."
As angry as the SAFE Act has made many gun owners, they're even more alarmed by what they're calling SAFE ACT 2-essentially a compilation of legislation that's been proposed in the past--that could, among other things, require ammunition for handguns to be stamped with an identification number so it could be more easily traced, require gun store owners to buy $1 million in liability insurance, institute a 10-day waiting period on all forearms purchases, and require pistol permits to be renewed every two years.
Opponents criticized those measures as a way to generate revenue for the state off their Second Amendment rights at the same time Governor Cuomo moves his personal agenda into the national arena.
"Even though we lost the election"-SCOPE had backed GOP candidate Rick Astorino for the governor's post-"it's just one battle," Mr. Czechowski said.
"In four years we elect another governor."
The 2014 election, Mr. Aldstadt said, was part bad news, part good news, and part horrible news.
The bad news, he said, is that with Governor Cuomo remaining in office, it's unlikely they'll see any action on repealing the SAFE Act.
The good news is that they were able to "flip" three key Senate races, including that of George Amedore, who won back his seat from Cecilia Tkaczyk in the 46th Senate District, and strengthen their stronghold there.
The horrible news, Mr. Aldstadt said, was voter turnout.
"That's on us. The Democrats did not turn out the vote to beat us. We just stayed home and that's a lot harder battle to tackle."
SCOPE is working on a letter campaign to remind Senate Republicans of members' commitment to gun rights.
Mr. Aldstadt said they'll also continue work on lawsuits challenging the SAFE Act and on their legal defense fund and will keep working to grow the organization.
In addition to Mr. Sisson and Mr. Czechowski, officers of the local chapter include Paul Shafer of Berne, secretary, and Dave Empie of Carlisle, treasurer.