Assemblyman Marc W. Butler (R,C,I,Ref-Newport) introduced legislation to extend the firearms recertification deadline for pistol permit holders along with Assemblyman Brian Miller (R,I-New Hartford), who supports the proposed legislation. Pistol permit holders who have been issued licenses before January 15, 2013 must recertify their licenses by January 31 of this year, according to the governor’s SAFE Act law. However, of the estimated 1.25 million pistol permit holders in the state, only 204,000 have recertified as of December 2017. Butler’s legislation, which would extend the deadline to January 31, 2019, would allow both law-abiding citizens and municipal governments the time to appropriately comply with the governor’s imposed law.

“This bureaucratic quagmire concerning pistol recertification is a real threat which could turn many otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals. The mess that is growing out of the pistol permit recertification requirement is one of the many concerns I had over the governor’s so-called SAFE Act,” said Butler. “Since so many hand gun owners are confused over the law, have received no notification from the State Police, and with additional questions being raised by our county clerks, New York must give additional time for this to be sorted out. I want to be sure we are helping citizens avoid being ensnared in the governor’s troubling gun law.”

“The SAFE Act has already threatened the constitutional rights of law-abiding New York state residents. Now, due to a rushed and reckless implementation of the governor’s unconstitutional policies, hundreds of thousands of law-abiding residents may unknowingly find themselves ‘guilty’ of a class E felony through no fault of their own. It remains unclear how many permit holders have been notified of the need to recertify and how many have not. That is unacceptable. Even worse, because of this flaw in the system, permit holders would be forced to surrender their handguns and possibly their long guns as well due to the nature of the ‘crime.’ Permit holders must be properly informed and given due notice to recertify instead of being labeled as ‘criminals’ due to flawed policy,” said Miller.

The New York State Association of County Clerks had written to the governor, 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.

Butler raises additional concerns over the governor’s law as it can be interpreted that a failure to register by the deadline could mean that not only pistols could be confiscated, but also other long guns, such as rifles, which do not require owners to register with the state. Failure to recertify a pistol by the January 31, 2018 deadline could result in the criminal possession of a firearm, which the governor’s SAFE Act made a class E felony. Under state Penal Law felons are prohibited from possessing rifles, shotguns or other long guns. This could be a troubling state-sponsored firearms confiscation which is a violation of the Second Amendment.

Constituents have been flooding Butler’s office calls reporting that they have not received notification from the State Police regarding the need to recertify their pistol permit licenses nor of the deadline. Permit holders should have already been notified, according to the governor’s law.

Butler says it is unreasonable to think any of these confused details can be resolved before January 31. His bill was introduced earlier this week in Albany, and he is lobbying legislators of both houses in a bi-partisan manner to see his extension legislation move forward.