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County clerks across the state are seeking an emergency meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other leaders about a Jan. 31 deadline for re-certifying handgun licenses under the 2013 SAFE Act gun control law.
County clerks, who keep track of handgun licenses in their individual counties, say they are being besieged with questions about details of the new requirement. And they have their own questions about enforcement of the law.
“We are unable to answer the numerous questions from our mutual constituents and other interested parties,” reads a Dec. 7 letter signed by Association President Annette Hill, of New York City.
The 2013 SAFE Act which Cuomo pushed through following the massacre in which 20 children and six adults died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Ct., is best known for its ban on assault-style weapons.
But the law also requires recertification of handgun licenses every five years. With the law’s fifth anniversary approaching, handgun owners who were registered prior to January 2013 are due to re-certify.
Gun owners can log into a State Police website to re-certify but county clerks say they will continue to keep records of permit holders in their localities.
Permit holders can go to OWASP CSRFGuard Project - New Token Landing Page or visit any State Police barracks to obtain the paperwork.
Gun owners in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties are exempt since those locations have their own requirements in place.
State Police spokesman William Duffy said they’ve received 204,080 re-certifications so far. They are reviewing the county clerks letter but extending the deadline would be up to the Legislature, he said.
That, however, is a fraction of the estimated 1.25 million permits across the state, including the exempt downstate counties, said Tom King, president of the state Rifle and Pistol Association.
Part of the problem, King said, is it’s unclear how complete or up-to-date the current records are so it's difficult to gauge the level of compliance.
While the handgun licenses are renewed through the State Police, they will then send the data to county clerks who compare their records against the state's list for discrepancies.
County clerks have historically kept track of permits in their localities.
Many of the pre-2013 licenses, though, are in file folders or index cards in clerk’s offices so checking them could turn into an overwhelming task. “They don’t have the people or the money to do that,” King said.
“There are going to be a lot of problems with this,” he added.
“I don’t think they are organized at all and the re-certification was a way to organize things,” said Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola, who was referring to existing state records.
He said they have received about 2,500 re-certifications from the State Police for Rensselaer County but estimates there are 18,000 handgun owners in the county. He doubts they will all hit the Jan. 31 deadline.
Likewise in Saratoga County where County Clerk Craig Hayner said that as of early December, he had 4,466 recertifications out of an estimated 18,000 pre-SAFE Act permits.
There also are legal questions which Hill referenced in her letter. While the law calls for automatic revocation if a handgun isn’t recertified, that task, as well as the job of issuing licenses, has always fallen to local judges.
Aside from raising questions of local control, does that mean a county clerk or a sheriff’s deputy then has to go confiscate the guns of someone who hasn’t recertified?
“We don’t have the resources to do it and we’re not even clear that we have the authority to do it. There are a lot of questions about due process,” said Peter Kehoe, executive director for the state Sheriff’s Association.
If all of the state’s handgun owners don’t recertify by the deadline – and if there isn’t a mass push to take their guns, it wouldn’t be the first time that a SAFE Act initiative has simply failed to take full effect.
County clerks want meeting with Cuomo over handgun laws
County clerks, who keep track of handgun licenses in their individual counties, say they are being besieged with questions about details of the new requirement. And they have their own questions about enforcement of the law.
“We are unable to answer the numerous questions from our mutual constituents and other interested parties,” reads a Dec. 7 letter signed by Association President Annette Hill, of New York City.
The 2013 SAFE Act which Cuomo pushed through following the massacre in which 20 children and six adults died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Ct., is best known for its ban on assault-style weapons.
But the law also requires recertification of handgun licenses every five years. With the law’s fifth anniversary approaching, handgun owners who were registered prior to January 2013 are due to re-certify.
Gun owners can log into a State Police website to re-certify but county clerks say they will continue to keep records of permit holders in their localities.
Permit holders can go to OWASP CSRFGuard Project - New Token Landing Page or visit any State Police barracks to obtain the paperwork.
Gun owners in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties are exempt since those locations have their own requirements in place.
State Police spokesman William Duffy said they’ve received 204,080 re-certifications so far. They are reviewing the county clerks letter but extending the deadline would be up to the Legislature, he said.
That, however, is a fraction of the estimated 1.25 million permits across the state, including the exempt downstate counties, said Tom King, president of the state Rifle and Pistol Association.
Part of the problem, King said, is it’s unclear how complete or up-to-date the current records are so it's difficult to gauge the level of compliance.
While the handgun licenses are renewed through the State Police, they will then send the data to county clerks who compare their records against the state's list for discrepancies.
County clerks have historically kept track of permits in their localities.
Many of the pre-2013 licenses, though, are in file folders or index cards in clerk’s offices so checking them could turn into an overwhelming task. “They don’t have the people or the money to do that,” King said.
“There are going to be a lot of problems with this,” he added.
“I don’t think they are organized at all and the re-certification was a way to organize things,” said Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola, who was referring to existing state records.
He said they have received about 2,500 re-certifications from the State Police for Rensselaer County but estimates there are 18,000 handgun owners in the county. He doubts they will all hit the Jan. 31 deadline.
Likewise in Saratoga County where County Clerk Craig Hayner said that as of early December, he had 4,466 recertifications out of an estimated 18,000 pre-SAFE Act permits.
There also are legal questions which Hill referenced in her letter. While the law calls for automatic revocation if a handgun isn’t recertified, that task, as well as the job of issuing licenses, has always fallen to local judges.
Aside from raising questions of local control, does that mean a county clerk or a sheriff’s deputy then has to go confiscate the guns of someone who hasn’t recertified?
“We don’t have the resources to do it and we’re not even clear that we have the authority to do it. There are a lot of questions about due process,” said Peter Kehoe, executive director for the state Sheriff’s Association.
If all of the state’s handgun owners don’t recertify by the deadline – and if there isn’t a mass push to take their guns, it wouldn’t be the first time that a SAFE Act initiative has simply failed to take full effect.
County clerks want meeting with Cuomo over handgun laws
