GOUVERNEUR -- North Country Assemblyman Marc W. Butler, R-Newport, held a rally Tuesday night at the Gouverneur VFW in support of his bill that would work to significantly repeal the SAFE Act in upstate New York and Long Island.

He was joined by fellow bill sponsor Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush R-Black River; Tom King, President of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA); Kevin Wells, St. Lawrence County Sheriff, and other gun advocates.

“Right here, in upstate New York, our values and traditions have been under attack by the governor and other New York city progressives who have worked to suppress our Second Amendment rights through overreaching laws like the SAFE Act,” Butler said in a prepared statement. “I spoke as boldly then as I do now, that our regional differences and cultural heritage that respects firearms and outdoor sports must be protected. Our rights as law-abiding New Yorkers must be protected. Our jobs must be protected. We must repeal the un-SAFE Act in upstate New York to restore our Second Amendment Rights. This is why I created this legislation. When we respect our differences, we all benefit.”

“The creation and implementation of New York’s SAFE Act only highlights the disconnect between downstate and upstate New Yorkers,” Blankenbush said in a news release. “The creation of the SAFE Act is rooted in New York City special interests and naïve activists who neither understand nor care about the way we live life upstate. The only thing that the governor’s SAFE Act has done is create criminals out of law-abiding citizens. I am pleased to join my colleagues in supporting this legislation and will continue to call for a complete repeal of the SAFE Act, an ill-advised and illegal law.”

Butler’s bill would repeal the provisions which he says "infringe on constitutionally protected rights through the Second Amendment. Additionally, the legislation would lift unfunded mandates such as the processing of thousands of pistol recertification applications, which is being required by the SAFE Act. This includes the enforcement of provisions by law enforcement, which diverts resources and personnel away from more pressing matters in communities, such as fighting heroin and drug trafficking," he said in a prepared statement.

Butler’s legislation includes the following provisions to apply to all counties, excluding those in New York City:

• Restore the previously-existing definition of the term “assault weapon.” The SAFE Act requires rifles with one of several  features to be classified as assault weapons. Previous law allowed up to two features.

• Remove prohibitions on transferring certain weapons to family members due to death of the gun owner.

• Remove the prohibition on directly purchasing ammunition via the internet as well as the background check requirement for ammunition purchases, although it has yet to be implemented.

• Repeal storage requirements outlined in the SAFE Act.

• Repeal the five-year recertification requirement for pistol permits, with the exception of Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties, which already had in place a five-year requirement; and prohibit the creation of a Statewide License and Record Database, which the assemblymwn says will save millions in taxpayer dollars.