Pistol permits can be renewed
Still time despite deadline passing
ALBANY, N.Y. » State residents who failed to recertify their pistol permits before the Jan. 31 deadline called for in the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act don’t have to worry about finding themselves in trouble with the law, according to authorities.
State officials said Thursday that permit holders will still be able to recertify their permits even though the deadline has passed.
Beau Duffy, director of public information for the New York State Police, said troopers will not pursue criminal enforcement if pistol permit holders did not recertify by the deadline.
Instead, he said, troopers will advise permit holders to recertify and give them the opportunity to do so. Duffy noted the law states that failure to recertify can result in revocation of the permit.
“In terms of recertifcations, we are going to be accepting them past the [now-expired] deadline,” said Duffy. “We know there are most likely people still out there, pistol permit holders, who still aren’t aware of the process, so we want to make sure they have an opportunity to recertify. It’s going to take us up to a year to actually get those in the database, so until the database is done, it’s going to be really impossible to enforce.”
According to Duffy, nearly 300,000 recertifications have been submitted since the inception of the act.
Earlier this week, Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin and County Clerk Frank Merola called on state officials to delay recertification requirements until the state develops a policy to handle any grievances or questions permit holders
may have about the recertification process. County officials said they believe thousands of permit holders statewide are in danger of having their permits revoked Feb. 1 if they do not recertify.
“According to the SAFE act, any affected holder not recertifying will have their permit revoked,” Merola said in a news release. “Is the original licensing officer, the judge, revoking the permit? What authority is revoking this permit?”
Merola also pointed out a resolution requesting the state delay recertification was unanimously adopted by the state Association of County Clerks.
The New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, commonly known as the NY SAFE Act, is a gun regulation law. The law was passed by the state Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in January 2013.
If a permit was issued before January 15, 2013, the deadline to submit recertification was Jan. 31 of this year. If the permit was issued on or after January 15, 2013, the deadline to recertify is five years after the date it was issued. It is the permit holder’s responsibility to recertify.
Onthe NY Safe Act website, officials said “the goal of this provision is to improve the recordkeeping of both state and local authorities. For example, under the current system, if a person with a permit passes away, no action is taken to update records to reflect that this permit is no longer active. By going through this process every five years, redundant or out- of- date records can be eliminated and the accuracy of recordkeeping can be improved.”
McLaughlin, who has been a opponent of the SAFE Act since his time as a state Assemblyman, said the recertification deadline just adds confusion and stress to permit holders.
“The SAFE act has put an unnecessary strain on law-abiding citizens and law enforcement. The Jan. 31 deadline will only add to the stress, confusion and cost already caused by the SAFE act, and should be set aside,” McLaughlin said. “I have fought against the SAFE Act since it was unfairly forced on residents of this state, and believe the entire law should be set aside and allow for our police to enforce the already considerable laws in place against these types of crimes. The SAFE act has not made our state safer, and is now creating challenges in the ranks of our law enforcement when they should be able to concentrate fully on protecting our residents.”
Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo said Wednesday that he has been informing county residents to follow the law and recertify their permits, even though he does not necessarily agree with the law.
“I’ve been telling the residents of Saratoga County to go ahead and do this, [even though] I don’t like it,” said Zurlo.
Rensselaer County Sheriff Pat Russo said the recertification process should be pushed back to allow for people to register their permits longer.
“As far as the recertification process, we’re advising everybody to recertify their permit,” said Russo on Wednesday. “People are leery about the SAFE act, but the law is the law, so we’re encouraging people to recertify their permit; and as far as the extension, I’m all for extending the deadline [ because] I understand there’s a lot of people who haven’t recertified.”
Russo also said although he encourages residents to recertify and follow the law, he also said that he does not agree with the SAFE act and believes that the act does not help to reduce gun violence.
“I think the SAFE act is probably one of the most hastily, ill-prepared pieces of legislation that was passed [since] it was pushed through with really no opportunity to voice concerns on it,” said Russo. “I think it does zero for reducing the gun violence, all of these shootings going on, these aren’t law-abiding pistol permit holders, these are people with illegal weapons. So, in my opinion, the SAFE act does little or nothing to reduce gun violence.”
David Petronis, who runs all of the NEACA Gun Shows, with some in Saratoga County, said that he also does not agree with the law and certification process either, but he did note that he and his wife both did recertify their permits this week since they want to follow the law.
“We did do what the law says we’re supposed to do, as far as my personal comment on it, I think it’s a form of registration, I think the whole pistol permit application is a form of registration in New York state and I don’t think we should register hand guns to people and keep all of their stuff on record,” said Petronis.