Desertdog
Member
Don't outlaw them, just price them out of the market.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Outdoors: State budget raises ire of sportsmen
By Bill Conners
Poughkeepsie Journal
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/thursday/sports/stories/sp012904s9.shtml
While Gov. George Pataki's 12th annual budget address last week to the state legislature may not have harbored many surprises, gun owners from across the state were caught off guard by what they view as another attempt by Pataki to take their handguns away.
Pataki has presented a number of legislative initiatives since taking office that have not endeared him to the sportsmen and women in New York.
If Pataki follows through with this latest threat, his 2004-2005 budget bill will include a request for a new law which would require all gun owners -- even those with lifetime licenses -- to renew their licenses every five years. This new provision by itself would fall short of the objective -- if indeed his objective is to strip them of their guns -- but the $100 license fee and the $25 fee required for every handgun they own could amount to a hefty bill for some of the more enthusiastic collectors.
And it gets worse. Pataki proposes to remove the cap on processing fees that can currently be charged by local authorities. That could, and probably would, get ugly.
Gun owners in Westchester County feel they already are under fire. The county legislature there has already taken a series of measures during the last few years which have not been friendly to gun owners. Gun owners are now fearful that if they are given the opportunity, Westchester County authorities would price them right out of the market.
Lawmakers would be able to claim that they have not blocked anyone's right to buy a handgun. Instead, they would simply make it economically prohibitive to own them. Activists feel it would not be very long before many jurisdictions in the state, under the guise of trying to "solve a crime problem" -- whether real or imagined -- would start charging exorbitant fees for processing handgun licenses.
Reaction swift, angered
Pataki had barely completed his budget speech before e-mails and telephone calls started flying around the state. Rob Weiss of Hopewell Junction is the former president of the Federation of Dutchess County Fish and Game Clubs, a hunter and sometimes shooting enthusiast. "Perhaps if the governor wasn't wasting millions of dollars on the failed COBIS system he wouldn't have to dream up these little schemes to find new sources of revenue," Weiss said.
COBIS -- Combined Ballistic Identification System -- was introduced in 1999 and by 2001 seven regional centers had been established by Pataki. "Millions of dollars were spent to establish the COBIS system,'' Weiss said. ''Millions more are being spent on maintenance and staffing. COBIS has yet to yield even just one arrest, it has yet to solve a single crime and that is a crime."
Many states are in the process of reviewing the viability of COBIS based systems. The flaw in the whole ballistic imaging theory is that shell casings which come from the same weapon will change the more times the weapon is fired, something which fingerprints will not do.
Hal Brilliant of Fishkill is a retired police chief. "New laws should offer solutions to crime problems, not deprive honest citizens of their rights,'' he said. ''This proposal would be a financial burden to many gun owners, especially collectors."
Brilliant said if the governor needs to raise revenue, he should be open and honest about it and not try to disguise the problem with new fees offered up as solutions to non-existent problems.
The Orange County Shooters Web site states that as of January there had been 95,795 guns registered in COBIS. As of that date, not one of the registered guns had been linked to a crime. The $12 million COBIS investment has failed and will probably continue to fail in spite of the $4 million a year lawmakers will have to spend continue the program.
Local organizations as well as individual gun owners are already contacting their state representatives to let them know they are not pleased with this latest threat. This plan will be a hard sell for many upstate legislators during an election year.
Bill Conners of the Federation of Dutchess County Fish and Game Clubs writes on outdoors news, notes and issues every Thursday in Players. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected] or by fax at 845-437-4879.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Outdoors: State budget raises ire of sportsmen
By Bill Conners
Poughkeepsie Journal
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/thursday/sports/stories/sp012904s9.shtml
While Gov. George Pataki's 12th annual budget address last week to the state legislature may not have harbored many surprises, gun owners from across the state were caught off guard by what they view as another attempt by Pataki to take their handguns away.
Pataki has presented a number of legislative initiatives since taking office that have not endeared him to the sportsmen and women in New York.
If Pataki follows through with this latest threat, his 2004-2005 budget bill will include a request for a new law which would require all gun owners -- even those with lifetime licenses -- to renew their licenses every five years. This new provision by itself would fall short of the objective -- if indeed his objective is to strip them of their guns -- but the $100 license fee and the $25 fee required for every handgun they own could amount to a hefty bill for some of the more enthusiastic collectors.
And it gets worse. Pataki proposes to remove the cap on processing fees that can currently be charged by local authorities. That could, and probably would, get ugly.
Gun owners in Westchester County feel they already are under fire. The county legislature there has already taken a series of measures during the last few years which have not been friendly to gun owners. Gun owners are now fearful that if they are given the opportunity, Westchester County authorities would price them right out of the market.
Lawmakers would be able to claim that they have not blocked anyone's right to buy a handgun. Instead, they would simply make it economically prohibitive to own them. Activists feel it would not be very long before many jurisdictions in the state, under the guise of trying to "solve a crime problem" -- whether real or imagined -- would start charging exorbitant fees for processing handgun licenses.
Reaction swift, angered
Pataki had barely completed his budget speech before e-mails and telephone calls started flying around the state. Rob Weiss of Hopewell Junction is the former president of the Federation of Dutchess County Fish and Game Clubs, a hunter and sometimes shooting enthusiast. "Perhaps if the governor wasn't wasting millions of dollars on the failed COBIS system he wouldn't have to dream up these little schemes to find new sources of revenue," Weiss said.
COBIS -- Combined Ballistic Identification System -- was introduced in 1999 and by 2001 seven regional centers had been established by Pataki. "Millions of dollars were spent to establish the COBIS system,'' Weiss said. ''Millions more are being spent on maintenance and staffing. COBIS has yet to yield even just one arrest, it has yet to solve a single crime and that is a crime."
Many states are in the process of reviewing the viability of COBIS based systems. The flaw in the whole ballistic imaging theory is that shell casings which come from the same weapon will change the more times the weapon is fired, something which fingerprints will not do.
Hal Brilliant of Fishkill is a retired police chief. "New laws should offer solutions to crime problems, not deprive honest citizens of their rights,'' he said. ''This proposal would be a financial burden to many gun owners, especially collectors."
Brilliant said if the governor needs to raise revenue, he should be open and honest about it and not try to disguise the problem with new fees offered up as solutions to non-existent problems.
The Orange County Shooters Web site states that as of January there had been 95,795 guns registered in COBIS. As of that date, not one of the registered guns had been linked to a crime. The $12 million COBIS investment has failed and will probably continue to fail in spite of the $4 million a year lawmakers will have to spend continue the program.
Local organizations as well as individual gun owners are already contacting their state representatives to let them know they are not pleased with this latest threat. This plan will be a hard sell for many upstate legislators during an election year.
Bill Conners of the Federation of Dutchess County Fish and Game Clubs writes on outdoors news, notes and issues every Thursday in Players. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected] or by fax at 845-437-4879.
