Aubertine: Vote Upholds Rights of Sportsmen, Gun Owners

Microstamping bill costly to local government, threatens jobs, infringes on 2^nd Amendment rights

ALBANY (June 15, 2010)—New York State Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine today said the lack of votes for proposed microstamping legislation on the Senate floor is a victory for Upstate New York, law abiding gun owners and our economy. He stood with fellow gun owners and sportsmen in voting against legislation to require new semi-automatic pistols to have micro-stamping technology that marks ammunition.

“This legislation misses the mark and will only infringe on the rights of law abiding gun owners,” Sen. Aubertine said. “The technology required by this legislation is unproven and will not achieve the public safety protections proponents of this bill claim. Instead, the end result will be limitations on responsible, law abiding gun owners who will be required to pay more for their legal guns if they can get them at all, while the actual criminals continue to purchase illegal handguns. We should not be looking to add more laws that infringe on our Second Amendment rights and instead enforce the laws already on the books.”

The Microstamping Bill (S.6005) was not passed on the Senate floor, due to no votes from Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus co-chairs Aubertine, Sens. Elizabeth Little and Dale Volker, along with caucus members Sens. David J. Valesky and William Stachowski. This legislation would have required all semi-automatic pistols manufactured on or after January 1, 2012 to be capable of producing a unique alpha-numeric or geometric code on at least two locations on each cartridge case expended from such pistol.

“This bill would threaten good paying jobs for upstate workers, will raise costs for local law enforcement, and be ineffective in stopping crime,” Sen. Aubertine added. “We have seen opposition not only from sportsmen’s groups and gun rights advocates, but also concerns raised by law enforcement officials, including our state police. I am pleased that common sense prevailed in the vote today. The flaws in this legislation are numerous and I will continue working to preserve and protect the rights of law abiding gun owners.”

“This is a great victory for the sportsmen. We appreciate the effort of the entire Senate, especially Senators Darrel Aubertine, Dave Valesky and Bill Stachowski for voting with the sportsmen and standing up for us,” said Rick McDermott, Region 7 Director for Conservation Alliance of New York, secretary and legislative committee member for the Oswego County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, secretary of the Albion Fish & Game Club, hunter education instructor, and lifetime National Rifle Association member. “Sportsmen are committed to stopping crime, but this is not the answer. This won’t affect criminals because criminals won’t be buying their firearms through legal channels. They don’t follow the laws already. Why would this affect them? It will not tell you who pulled the trigger. At best, this law would only tell you who the original purchaser was.”

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