Nassau proposes ban on brightly painted guns
BY SOPHIA CHANG |
[email protected];
March 27, 2008
Owning or selling brightly colored guns may soon be illegal in Nassau County under a proposed ban because the painted weapons could pass as toys, police and county officials said yesterday.
Suffolk County officials are considering a similar ban.
The proposal in Nassau County was spurred by a Wisconsin company's introduction last week of a line of gun paints called the "Bloomberg Collection," which taunts Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2006 ban of brightly colored gun paints in New York City, said Nassau police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey.
Along with County Executive Thomas Suozzi and Legis. Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin), Mulvey said he intends to support Bloomberg by outlawing the possession of painted guns in Nassau County, even if they were legally purchased and licensed elsewhere.
Shaking his head during a news conference in Mineola yesterday, Mulvey picked up a Luger pistol that had been spray-painted lemon yellow.
If the bill passes, "I will not license any deceptively colored guns in the county," he said.
In addition to denying permits to anyone with a painted gun, the legislation would give current owners 30 days to restore their guns to standard colors and violators would face a penalty likely to be a $1,000 fee or up to a year in jail, Mulvey said.
He estimated that between six to 10 painted guns have previously been licensed by the county, and those gun owners would be notified of the changed rules.
Suozzi called the issue beyond the scope of the pro- or anti-gun control debate.
"Police officers are as concerned about gun control and gun safety as anyone else," Suozzi said. "It's inhuman that anyone could think of making a profit off of this."
Steve Lauer, owner of the Lauer Custom Weaponry, based in Chippewa Falls, Wis., said he sells a few Bloomberg Collection kits every day and that the majority of his gun painting products are sold to police officers and members of the military hoping to have high-visibility weapons, hoping to make them more durable or both.
Referring to Bloomberg and his anti-gun stance, Lauer said, "He's on a mission to destroy anybody that's fairly visible in the firearms industry. And we're extremely visible."
"Police officers have a hard enough job as it is without having to worry about whether a person with a pink gun is carrying a toy or a deadly weapon," said Bloomberg in a statement. "Putting our officers in that position is beneath any self-respecting business owner - and make no mistake, it could lead to terrible tragedies."
Suffolk County is considering similar legislation but the details are not finalized, said Dan Aug, a spokesman for County Executive Steve Levy.
"Any time our police officers are put in danger, it's a grave concern," Levy said in a statement yesterday.
Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said there had not been any incidents in the county involving painted guns but that it is "definitely an officer safety issue."
Det. Tom Willdigg, president of the Nassau County Detectives Association, said the bill could save officers' lives and the union would support even a state ban on painted guns.
The Nassau bill would take at least a month to finalize, Suozzi said. While it was unclear how the county legislature will respond to the bill, Legis. Francis Becker (R-Lynbrook) said he felt most of his Republican colleagues would endorse the idea.
"In the Republican delegation, we're very supportive of our police officers," he said.
Joseph Green, who is a supervisory special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' New York field division, said the issue isn't new, and that he could recall seeing painted guns in the late 1980s and early '90s.
"It's been around for many, many years that criminals would try to paint their guns to disguise them to look like toys," he said.
Green couldn't say whether any painted guns had been recovered in Nassau or Suffolk. But he echoed the concerns of others that such guns pose a threat to police and civilians alike.
"It makes it much more difficult for police officers now because they really have to be extra, extra cautious," he said.
Staff writers Matthew Chayes and Christine Armario contributed to this story.
Toy gun or real gun? They were displayed by New York City officials in 2006, along with a selection of paints. For the answer, see the caption at right.
