LOCKPORT — The county Legislature is calling on local members of the New York State Legislature to help block a trio of gun-control measures proposed by downstate legislators.
Legislators John Syracuse, R-Newfane, and John Ceretto, R-Lewiston, put up resolutions Tuesday denouncing three proposed state laws that affect gun ownership. The resolutions were approved by unanimous vote of the county body.
One state bill calls for mandatory renewal of pistol permits every five years. Another calls for a ban on magazine-fed pistols, magazine-fed semiautomatic rifles and pump-action shotguns. Another redefines the sale of guns between private citizens as “gun show” and subjects those sales to state oversight.
Individually and together, the bills represent an assault on New Yorkers’ Second Amendment right to bear arms, Syracuse declared.
“They’re a collection that really plays on the fears of the public,” he said. The bill regarding pistol permitting particularly “treats the right to bear arms as a privilege granted by the state of New York — and it’s not.”
The pistol permitting bill would require mandatory renewal of permits every five years. Currently permit holders apply once and keep the permit for life, so long as they’re law-abiding.
Niagara County Clerk Wayne Jagow said a regular renewal provision would be onerous to both pistol owners and the county.
Before permit renewal, pistol owners would have to submit to a new round of background checks and pay the permit fee, currently $105.
There are nearly 27,000 pistol permit holders in Niagara County now, Jagow said; the number increases by about 500 a year. To require the county to check on all those permits every five years “would swamp our office,” he said. “I’d be coming to (the legislature) asking for additional staffing. ... This seems to be nothing more than a way (for the government) to accumulate a little bit more money.”
Sheriff James Voutour said a frequent permitting requirement would burden his office, too. The spirit of the proposed law seems misguided, he added, considering crimes involving guns are committed mostly by people who don’t have pistol permits.
If the intent of the law is to crack down on gun crimes, the smarter thing would be to toughen sanctions against those who commit them, suggested Legislator Richard E. Updegrove, R-Lockport.
“That would get at the real problem,” he said. “It is absolutely obnoxious, at a time when we’re struggling with the budget, to have (state) legislators try to impose this type of legislation on taxpayers.”
The proposed law calling for a ban on certain types of long guns — by classifying them as “assault weapons” due to their characteristics, such as rifle-barrel shroud, pistol grip, thumbhole grip or telescoping — is also clearly a shot at denying citizens’ rights, according to Syracuse. It would have “a chilling effect on the legal ownership of firearms .. while imposing new bureaucratic rules that criminals would ignore with impunity,” his resolution said.
A proposed law expanding the definition of “gun show” to include transactions between private citizens would hamper gun raffles, which local fire companies, veterans organizations and others hold routinely as fundraisers, Ceretto said.
“This bill would make it so costly, so difficult (to raise money that way). This bill affects sporting and other groups that are thriving in Niagara County,” he said. “It goes against our core values. If it goes through, what’s next?”
According to Syracuse, more than a dozen gun-control proposals have been added to the state Assembly calendar in recent months.
The bills calling for regular pistol permit renewal and redefinition of gun show are sponsored in the Assembly by member Amy Paulin of Scarsdale, Westchester County.
Regular pistol-permit renewal already is required in New York City and Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
Paulin’s permit bill passed in the Assembly last year and died in the Senate this past January.
The bill expanding the definition of “assault weapon,” sponsored in the Assembly by three New York City-area members, met the same fate.
Both bills were reintroduced and are now sitting in committee. The only members of the Western New York delegation who favored them last year were Assembly members Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, and Crystal Peoples, D-Buffalo.
Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.
Local News
County calls out anti-gun measures
- Local News
-
-
Shovel-ready park has perks
At first glance, the big, orange road sign announcing vacant property on Lockport Road as a “shovel ready certified” building site seems a bit gratuitous.
To companies looking for new places to launch a business, it’s not. The sign in their eyes is a welcome mat, for in three words a community pronounced itself ready, willing and able to make a deal quickly. -
Roy-Hart to play the big stage
A group of local students will be performing this month at Kleinhans Music Hall just before a BPO concert.
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra will welcome the Royalton-Hartland High School Mixed Chorus as part of the BPO’s Community Spotlight program on Feb. 19 at Kleinhans in Buffalo. The chorus will perform under the direction of Carolyn Unitas Roos and accompanied by Janice McKinney. -
Former NFTA cop sentenced
A former Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police officer will spend six years on probation for sending a sexually explicit photo to a teenage girl, a girl he later had a sexual encounter with.
In addition, John W. Ingham will spend 25 weekends in the service of the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office Work Program. Ingham was sentenced Thursday by State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch, Sr. Ingham will also register as a sex offender. -
Speakers address SPCA contract
Animal rescue volunteers want the City of Lockport to hit the SPCA of Niagara where it hurts — in the pocketbook — and help force reform of the troubled animal welfare organization.
Volunteers from multiple small, private rescue groups, and the SPCA itself, descended on the Common Council Wednesday to talk about the city’s ongoing involvement with SPCA. -
Liberty Tire cited for 'multiple' violations
The City of Lockport will require Liberty Tire Recycling to obtain an operating permit in order to avoid being declared a hazard.
-
Instant millionaire
Paul Schneider had just gotten off the phone with his girlfriend when he called her back with some breaking news.
“She was teasing me and said, ‘so you hung up the phone with me to scratch your scratch offs?’” Schneider said. “And I said, ‘It’s a good thing I did because I won a million dollars.’” -
Fire code crackdown vowed
City code enforcement officers are planning an inspection blitz at the multi-building Liberty Tire Recycling complex, in the hope of helping the company avoid another huge fire, officials said Monday.
Liberty Tire, 470 Ohio St., likely will be cited for one or more fire code violations after fire struck the facility this past Friday. A large pile of tires, stored behind one of the buildings, caught fire when a live industrial power line fell on the pile. The power line had partly melted due to a short circuit inside a building. -
NFTA cuts will make transportation difficult
NFTA cuts will make it difficult, if not impossible for Buffalo-area commuters to get to work in Lockport and Lockport residents to get to Buffalo.
Millie Spencer, who lives near the Walden Galleria, takes four buses and an NFTA train to get to Lockport for her job as a graphic artist four days a week.
“This will threaten my job,” said Spencer who is married and has four children. “We’re down to one car and my husband’s job takes him all over the place. What would I do? I don’t know.” -
Prepared patriots
At mobilization ceremonies across the state this weekend, hundreds of servicemen from the Army National Guard were cheered on their way to training for a possible overseas deployment.
More than 1,800 soldiers assigned to the 27th Brigade Combat Team mobilized before heading to Camp Shelby in Mississippi to train for an expected deployment to Kuwait this spring. In Lockport, nearly 75 men from Company A of the Brigade Special Troops Battalion were thanked for their previous — and coming — service to the nation at a ceremony Sunday. Likewise, 90 were sent off in Geneseo Saturday, and more in Buffalo and Rochester. -
Town recycling numbers are up
The Town of Lockport seems to have taken a bigger interest in recycling.
At a Town Board meeting Wednesday, Councilman Paul W. Siejak said for all of 2011, the town recycled 27.55 more tons than it did a year ago. Electronics recycling, which the town started in July, totaled 4,914 pounds.
For the electronics recycling, the town receives 5 cents per pound, which means Lockport was paid $245.70. - More Local News Headlines
-
Killer of Fla. Girl Found in Landfill Gets Life
Army Orders Bradley Manning Court-martial
Cancer Charity Revives Breast-screening Grants
Heavy Snowstorm Hits Colorado On Its Way East
2nd Teacher From LA School Arrested on Sex Claim
Prosecutors Close Armstrong Inquiry, No Charges
Sights and Sounds: Football Fans Pour Into Indy
Unemployment Rate Down to 8.3%
Obama: Still Far Too Many Americans Need Jobs
GOP: Jobs Numbers Welcome, Can Do Better
Fla. Man Adopts Girlfriend in Legal Battle
More Deaths As Egypt Clashes Continue
Raw Video: Prince William in Falklands
Egpyt Protesters Blame Police for Soccer Deaths
'Lucky' 9-Year-Old Receives 6-Organ Transplant
Raw Video: Michelle Vs. Ellen in Pushup Contest
First Person: Will Peyton Manning Stay in Indy?
Egypt Shaken After Deadly Soccer Riot
New Suits, New Starts for New York's Unemployed
Hall of Famer Dorsett Speaks Out on NFL Injuries
