STATEMENT FROM SENATOR GEORGE AMEDORE

Four years after the SAFE Act was passed in the middle of the night, the provisions continue to place an undue burden and infringe on the Constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners throughout the State of New York.

This year, a requirement that every pistol permit holder in the state must recertify his or her permit every five years goes into effect. Anyone in the state holding a permit issued prior to January 15, 2013 must recertify the permit by January 31, 2018.

Like many aspects of the SAFE act, this provision is posing problems and confusion, particularly among county sheriffs and clerks, with many questions about the implementation and enforcement left unanswered. What is the cost of the recertification system? How are current permit holders being notified? Who is responsible for revocation for those who fail to recertify?

Issuing and maintaining pistol permits has always been a function of County government. This new process removes local control, and adds a burdensome level of duplication that could further infringe on the rights of gun owners. Until the questions that have been raised are addressed, we need to stop the recertification process.

With each measure of the SAFE Act that comes into effect, it becomes more and more clear that this bill was passed out of political expediency by a Governor who used his own political agenda to make criminals out of law abiding New Yorkers. I continue to cosponsor legislation to repeal the SAFE act and call on my colleagues in the Legislature to finally get rid of this bad policy.

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