Ortt signs SAFE Act repeal pledge

North Tonawanda Mayor Rob Ortt, the endorsed Republican candidate in the 62^nd Senate District, met with the local leader of an activist group that has grown by leaps and bounds since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the nation's most restrictive gun control act into law last January.

Ortt joined Tinker Young, the Orleans County chairman of the Shooters Committee on Political Education, or SCOPE, at the Orleans County Fair Monday to discuss ongoing efforts to repeal Cuomo's New York SAFE Act. SCOPE, an activist, grass-roots group that long advocated against gun control and for favorable state policies regarding hunting and shooting sports, has become one of the most vocal and energetic forces against the SAFE Act since the law's enactment.

"The SAFE Act was a bad law, because it was rammed through in the middle of the night, before the ink was dry on the printed copies, with no debate," Ortt said after signing SCOPE's pledge to work to repeal the gun control law and oppose similar legislation. "But it was more fundamentally a bad law, because it flew in the face of the Bill of Rights."

At just 54 words, the SCOPE pledge states: "As a candidate for office in the state of New York, I pledge to support the Second Amendment and the rights of gun owners, hunters, and sportsmen in our state. I pledge to support the repeal of the NY SAFE Act and oppose any similar gun-ban legislation at the local, state, and federal level."

Young witnessed Ortt's pledge signature.

Ortt, a combat veteran who earned a Bronze Star serving in Afghanistan, was blunt about his stance on repealing the SAFE Act and protecting the Second Amendment.

"I'm proud to have served my country. When I first put on the uniform, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution," Ortt said. "Signing the SCOPE pledge is just reaffirming an oath I took a long time ago. I meant it then, and I mean it now."

Ortt is seeking election as the endorsed Republican candidate in New York's 62^nd Senate District, which includes all of Niagara and Orleans counties, as well as the towns of Sweden and Ogden.