SAFE Act protesters drown out Senators at event for unemployed veterans

A meeting to discuss new legislation to assist unemployed vets took a nasty turn Thursday. As YNN's Meg Rossman tells us, protesters ambushed state lawmakers over recent amendments to the SAFE Act.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. — Legislation set to take effect in January was the topic of conversation for State Senator Mark Grisanti and Senate Majority leaders Dean Skelos and Jeff Klein at the Buffalo Naval Park Thursday.

Instead, it was all white noise.

"They're passionate, but unfortunately, that event was for veterans," said Grisanti.

The three lawmakers had hoped to outline their plan of attack to help unemployed veterans. Instead, many of those same vets went on the attack instead.

"People have the right to protest, they have the right to be vocal. That's what our veterans fought for," said Skelos.

"Some people here understood the importance of helping our veterans, but I think others were only concerned about the SAFE ACT," Klein said.

In fact, many of those in attendance Thursday were part of a planned protest orchestrated by the 2nd Amendment Coalition. Monday, leaders posted instructions on their Facebook page, urging members to get close to the speakers and be heard. The Coalition says amendments the Senate approved for the SAFE ACT last week left veterans out.

"I think maybe it opened up their ears, opened up their eyes that maybe we better start listening to Western New York," said Rus Thompson, 2nd Amendment Coalition.

"I fought to negotiate to get a lot of the bad out, as much as I could as much as one person could," Grisanti said. "When you're negotiating something like that you don't have the ability to vote 'No'"

Last week's amendment exempted retired law enforcement from the bill's ammunition restriction.

For his part, Grisanti says he and his Senate colleagues will continue to fight for law abiding citizens in regards to the act.

Thompson and colleagues say they'll settle for nothing short of a full repeal.
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