In a case of dueling releases, Rockland County Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell (D) and Legislator Ed Day (R) took whacks at each other this week. The topic was gun control.

The Rockland County Legislature’s Public Safety Committee met Tuesday, February 19, in New City in front of a packed house to review and possibly vote on a final county gun control resolution, sponsored by Rep. Cornell. Many who attended the meeting were adamantly against recent NY state action on gun control as reflected in the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, or NY SAFE Act.

Day released a statement in the Rockland County Times yesterday blasting Cornell’s recent statement about guns and law enforcement officers. Day believed that Cornell’s words on guns and law enforcement officers tangled the topic, mixing the actions of Christopher Dorner, a fired L.A. police officer, with law-abiding officers. Cornell words were related to her belief that the county’s need to enact gun control legislation. Cornell’s resolution includes various gun measures that include ending gun shows in the county, limiting gun magazines, as well as various mental health and general school safety provisions.

Day, in a bit of parliamentary procedure — (which might be construed as flip-flopping to the uninitiated in legislative strategies that often involve actions for and against the same piece of legislation) — voted for Cornell’s resolution to bring it forward for debate and for legislative vote. Day then came out this past week stoutly against the resolution, putting forth his own measures, and spit a few personal nails Cornell’s way in the process. Day was out of country and unavailable for Tuesday’s meeting.

“I was quite personally offended by Chairwoman Cornell’s attack on retired law enforcement in her tagging us with the isolated and disturbing actions of Christopher Dorner, a fired police officer,” Day said in a statement posted yesterday. “I accepted her apology but fear it is evidence of an underlying hostility towards gun owners and law enforcement.”

Cornell’s Letter To The Editor questioned whether Day was playing politics in the name of public safety: “Mr. Day chose to take a simple, straight-forward question that I had asked at a Public Safety Committee meeting on gun safety and distort my words into an attack on law enforcement. . . . For Leg. Day to then turn around and publicly accuse me of “an underlying hostility” toward our law enforcement personnel smacks of political opportunism.”