Albany County District Attorney David Soares is the guest on WAMC's Capitol Connection program this week. He spoke with WAMC's Alan Chartock about several issues, including guns and the murky Albany mayoral race.
Soares says he supports firearm reforms that would require universal background checks and mandatory registration when large amounts of ammunition are purchased online. Soares, a Democrat recently reelected to a third term, says he believes the National Rifle Association is attempting to mislead the American people during a critical time in the national debate.
“They’re sending out this message about the erosion of the Second Amendment, which this is not about eroding the Second Amendment," he said. "I’ve been at this job now for quite some time and we’ve never executed search warrants for a person who is lawfully in possession of a weapon and we’ve never dragged that individual into an Albany County courthouse and prosecuted that person. That’s not going to happen.”
Meanwhile, it’s not yet clear whether Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings will seek a sixth term this fall, after nearly two decades in office, and City Treasurer Kathy Sheehan has already entered the race. Soaressays his relationship with Jennings , a fellow Democrat, is better than it has been in the past.
“In my position you cannot afford to have bad relationships with any elected official because you need one another in order to achieve the greater good for your constituents," he said. "The mayor and I have worked on several issues involving youth, involving schools, that really got us talking after years of not having any communications, so I have a very good relationship with him.”
