Lawmakers question enacting Safe Act; Police to enforce law as they see fit
NEW YORK – Lawmakers branded nearly a million people potential targets of felonies in New York State on Thursday as the deadline for recertification under the SAFE Act of 2013 came to an end; this begs the question, when will enforcement begin?
Law enforcement lawmakers, including Assemblyman Clifford Crouch and Senator Fred Akshar, have expressed their concerns.
Crouch made it clear that the act will be successful if 100 percent of permit holders are compliant.
The number of pistol permits estimated by the New York Rifle and Pistol Association implies that current recertification is at approximately 24% compliance; with the deadline to recertify having passed January 31. This means a majority of New York State citizens, who legally owned a pistol last week, are now potentially felons.
Akshar commented on the results thus far saying, “This is what happens when bureaucrats make a decision without involving stakeholders. You get another piece of legislation that wasn’t properly thought out, and now we’ve ended up with another law that isn’t enforceable.”
Both lawmakers said that it was currently impossible to know how many people need to recertify, and acknowledged that this was in large part because people with pistol permits have passed away with their permits remaining active.
Crouch added, “The New York Rifle & Pistol Association estimate over 1.25 million pistol permit holders.” and expressed concerns over the punishment of the near million people who have yet to recertify.
“According to the SAFE Act statute,” Crouch explained, “failure to recertify shall act as a revocation of the permit. Consequently, pistol permit license holders are at risk of becoming criminals, since it is a crime for most people to possess a handgun without a pistol permit license under state penal law. The SAFE Act made criminal possession of any firearm a class E felony.”
Crouch added that he was never told, after asking, if firearms would ever be returned after being seized for violating the act.
According to Crouch, “The New York State Association of County Clerks had written to the governor in December, raising significant questions regarding the implementation of the pistol recertification law. They raised concerns over the consequence of missing the deadline, what due process permit holders were afforded, the role regarding the licensing officer and who is responsible for license revocations and weapon seizures. The County Clerks reportedly had a meeting with government officials in mid-January.”
Crouch noted that his staff had reached out to the County Clerks Association for more information on the outcome of that meeting, but they had yet to receive a response.
In the meantime, both lawmakers have introduced legislation to impact the SAFE Act.
Crouch submitted legislation to extend the deadline for people to recertify to January 31, 2019, and Akshar submitted legislation to repeal the safe act in its entirety, and both have sent letters to Governor Cuomo awaiting a response.
Akshar wanted to make it clear that there were parts of the SAFE Act that he agreed with.
“I agree with the mental health provisions, and the enhanced penalties that relate to discharging firearms on first responders. Those concepts, however, would be better off being passed in their own legislation.”
Akshar went on to clarify, “If I can’t get this law repealed everyone still needs to follow through with the law, and get their pistol recertification completed.”
After a brief moment of silence Akshar continued, “No matter what, we will continue to have conversations about this in Albany, and we must have a reasonable and responsible conversation about gun control; along with an open mind and the willingness to listen to both sides”
Akshar explained that, “for the near future, the local district attorney and law enforcement will have a lot of influence over how SAFE Act cases are treated, and what kind of charges people might face.”
According to Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride, Norwich Police Chief Rodney Marsh, and Sheriff Ernest Cutting, they won’t making arrests based solely on the SAFE Act anytime soon.
“Our priority is on catching those selling narcotics and committing violent crimes; they’re the ones who are doing major damage to our community,” said McBride when asked about his opinion on the SAFE Act, and he added, “So far we’ve had no prosecutions based solely on the Safe Act”.
Marsh agreed saying, “This agency has no plans to act upon pistol permit holders for failing to complete their recertification under the SAFE Act. The enforcement aspect of that legislation lies with the New York State Police.”
Cutting made his stance clear saying, “I disagreed with the safe act when it was enacted,” and, “We support the second amendment here; we’re not going to be knocking down anyone’s door over this,”.
The New York State Police Public Information Office released a statement with additional information, “We have received a considerable amount of paper forms, which have to be hand-keyed into our database. It could take up to a year or more to complete data entry and verification for the database. Until it’s complete, and there’s an updated and accurate list of those who have recertified, enforcement will be impossible.”
They explained that they won’t be putting a deadline on the process,and that so far, “We can tell you that as of today 299,385 permit holders have recertified”
They stated that, “We cannot provide an accurate number of active permits because there has never been a requirement or mechanism for records to be updated. For example, if a permit holder dies, or moves out of state, no action is taken to update records to reflect that these permits are no longer active.”
According to the statement, state police believe that through the recertification process, they will be able to construct a database with more accurate records. However, without knowing the number of active permits, it’s not possible for them to say how many have yet to recertify.
They concluded with, “Each law enforcement agency will make its own determination. You will have to check with other law enforcement agencies on how they plan on proceeding.”
Law enforcement lawmakers, including Assemblyman Clifford Crouch and Senator Fred Akshar, have expressed their concerns.
Crouch made it clear that the act will be successful if 100 percent of permit holders are compliant.
The number of pistol permits estimated by the New York Rifle and Pistol Association implies that current recertification is at approximately 24% compliance; with the deadline to recertify having passed January 31. This means a majority of New York State citizens, who legally owned a pistol last week, are now potentially felons.
Akshar commented on the results thus far saying, “This is what happens when bureaucrats make a decision without involving stakeholders. You get another piece of legislation that wasn’t properly thought out, and now we’ve ended up with another law that isn’t enforceable.”
Both lawmakers said that it was currently impossible to know how many people need to recertify, and acknowledged that this was in large part because people with pistol permits have passed away with their permits remaining active.
Crouch added, “The New York Rifle & Pistol Association estimate over 1.25 million pistol permit holders.” and expressed concerns over the punishment of the near million people who have yet to recertify.
“According to the SAFE Act statute,” Crouch explained, “failure to recertify shall act as a revocation of the permit. Consequently, pistol permit license holders are at risk of becoming criminals, since it is a crime for most people to possess a handgun without a pistol permit license under state penal law. The SAFE Act made criminal possession of any firearm a class E felony.”
Crouch added that he was never told, after asking, if firearms would ever be returned after being seized for violating the act.
According to Crouch, “The New York State Association of County Clerks had written to the governor in December, raising significant questions regarding the implementation of the pistol recertification law. They raised concerns over the consequence of missing the deadline, what due process permit holders were afforded, the role regarding the licensing officer and who is responsible for license revocations and weapon seizures. The County Clerks reportedly had a meeting with government officials in mid-January.”
Crouch noted that his staff had reached out to the County Clerks Association for more information on the outcome of that meeting, but they had yet to receive a response.
In the meantime, both lawmakers have introduced legislation to impact the SAFE Act.
Crouch submitted legislation to extend the deadline for people to recertify to January 31, 2019, and Akshar submitted legislation to repeal the safe act in its entirety, and both have sent letters to Governor Cuomo awaiting a response.
Akshar wanted to make it clear that there were parts of the SAFE Act that he agreed with.
“I agree with the mental health provisions, and the enhanced penalties that relate to discharging firearms on first responders. Those concepts, however, would be better off being passed in their own legislation.”
Akshar went on to clarify, “If I can’t get this law repealed everyone still needs to follow through with the law, and get their pistol recertification completed.”
After a brief moment of silence Akshar continued, “No matter what, we will continue to have conversations about this in Albany, and we must have a reasonable and responsible conversation about gun control; along with an open mind and the willingness to listen to both sides”
Akshar explained that, “for the near future, the local district attorney and law enforcement will have a lot of influence over how SAFE Act cases are treated, and what kind of charges people might face.”
According to Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride, Norwich Police Chief Rodney Marsh, and Sheriff Ernest Cutting, they won’t making arrests based solely on the SAFE Act anytime soon.
“Our priority is on catching those selling narcotics and committing violent crimes; they’re the ones who are doing major damage to our community,” said McBride when asked about his opinion on the SAFE Act, and he added, “So far we’ve had no prosecutions based solely on the Safe Act”.
Marsh agreed saying, “This agency has no plans to act upon pistol permit holders for failing to complete their recertification under the SAFE Act. The enforcement aspect of that legislation lies with the New York State Police.”
Cutting made his stance clear saying, “I disagreed with the safe act when it was enacted,” and, “We support the second amendment here; we’re not going to be knocking down anyone’s door over this,”.
The New York State Police Public Information Office released a statement with additional information, “We have received a considerable amount of paper forms, which have to be hand-keyed into our database. It could take up to a year or more to complete data entry and verification for the database. Until it’s complete, and there’s an updated and accurate list of those who have recertified, enforcement will be impossible.”
They explained that they won’t be putting a deadline on the process,and that so far, “We can tell you that as of today 299,385 permit holders have recertified”
They stated that, “We cannot provide an accurate number of active permits because there has never been a requirement or mechanism for records to be updated. For example, if a permit holder dies, or moves out of state, no action is taken to update records to reflect that these permits are no longer active.”
According to the statement, state police believe that through the recertification process, they will be able to construct a database with more accurate records. However, without knowing the number of active permits, it’s not possible for them to say how many have yet to recertify.
They concluded with, “Each law enforcement agency will make its own determination. You will have to check with other law enforcement agencies on how they plan on proceeding.”
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