By Paul Lathrop | Contributing Editor
A candidate for the job of Erie County, NY Sheriff recently was a guest on the Second Amendment Foundation’s Daily Bullet expressed his advocacy for the rights of gun owners, while acknowledging his lack of law enforcement experience.
Candidate Steve Felano recently announced his candidacy, and he told Daily Bullet listeners why.
“This whole approach running for sheriff is informed by my Second Amendment advocacy,” Felano said. “For the past several years my group has been focused on nullifying various civilian state edicts in New York State such as the SAFE Act, the permitting regime (and) red flag laws. I have come to realize that’s never going to happen by, with and through the legislature. The pathway to do that through the court system is fairly limited as well, especially as our state courts are shut down during the pandemic. So, I figured at this stage it makes the most strategic sense to go right to the source, which is the enforcement arm of these gun control edicts and run for Sheriff.”
Felano explained that if he wins and becomes the next sheriff he will not enforce any unconstitutional laws.
“I’m applying a simple test here,” he said, “when I am talking about my non-enforcement policies and it’s just a question of whether or not the constitution explicitly provides for these types of laws to be forced on the public.”
Felano said that as sheriff he would have the ability to impanel a Grand Jury. He said he would use that ability to investigate activities by the Governor and others in Albany.
He also stated that he will end funding of the county government through excessive “victimless” traffic fines, such as speeding in a school zone when school is not in session.
“They (the people) shouldn’t be ensnared in these speed traps just to fund the reckless spending of the progressives,” Felano asserted. “The progressives need to develop and enact responsible budgets that don’t depend on pickpocketing working families across the county.”
He was candid about his lack of law enforcement experience.
“I don’t have law enforcement experience in the traditional sense,” Felano said, “so you are going to hear a range of individuals with 25, 30, maybe 40 years of experience working in law enforcement agencies that have the entire time taken orders and enforced all the orders imposed on them and New York State residents by State Government.
“I am a law enforcement outsider,” he acknowledged. “I am able to talk about these types of things in my campaign because I don’t have the ‘Golden handcuffs’ of the government pension and the government paycheck.”
Felano said his effort is being viewed as a “statement campaign” and said that he very much does plan on winning the primary election in June and the general election for Sheriff in 2021.
