Glens Falls, NY – Assemblyman Matt Simpson (R, C, I - Horicon) today issued a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the Executive Chamber, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of State, Division of Criminal Justice Services, and New York State Police seeking official guidance issued by these agencies relating to the enforcement of the state’s newly adopted gun laws. Assemblyman Simpson is seeking enforcement guidance issued to officers and employees of these agencies, commissioners and executive agency heads, county clerks, district attorneys and state and local law enforcement officials.

“A week before this dangerous bill becomes law, residents and visitors in the Adirondack Park are still waiting for official word from the state if they will immediately become felons come September 1st simply for possessing their legal firearms, rifles and shotguns behind the Blue Line” stated Simpson. “At issue is a lack of clarity in this bill as to whether the entire Adirondack Park is a ‘sensitive location’ in which possession would constitute a felony punishable by prison time. Northern New Yorkers deserve official communication from the state on this subject, and we need it very soon.”

Chapter 371 of the Laws of 2022, which passed the state Legislature on July 1 with one-party support and was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul the same day, created the new crime of “criminal possession of a firearm, rifle or shotgun in a sensitive location,” a class E felony punishable by up to four years in prison. The legislation enumerates several dozen places deemed to be ‘sensitive locations,’ including ‘public parks.’Since the law’s adoption, legislators from the Majority party who voted in favor have expressed contradictory interpretations of how the law would apply to lawful concealed-carry permit holders within the Adirondack Park. Assemblyman Simpson and Sen. Dan Stec are jointly sponsoring legislation (S.9498) to address this inconsistency by explicitly stating that state forest preserve land located in the Adirondack and Catskill parks are exempt from the sensitive areas listed in the bill.

Simpson concluded, “I urge my colleagues to pass my bill to correct this issue, but in the meantime, we need clear official guidance from the executive as to how this new law will be enforced in the Adirondack Park beginning Sep. 1. Failure to address this issue in a timely manner threatens to unjustly deprive our residents and visitors of the individual right to bear arms for self-defense that the Supreme Court continues to uphold.”