SAFE Act stance helps Howard win 3rd term as Erie County sheriff – Four words that he uttered at a news conference last May helped Timothy B. Howard win a third term as Erie County sheriff.  The words were “I won’t enforce it,” and Howard was talking about the SAFE Act, a controversial new state firearms law that has outraged gun owners.  The support of angry firearms owners helped the Republican sheriff to a big win Tuesday over his Democratic Party opponent, retired Sheriff’s Deputy Richard E. Dobson, and Sheriff’s Lt. Bert D. Dunn, a Law and Order Party candidate who lost the Democratic nomination in the September primary.