MORE N.Y. ANTI-GUN B.S. BILLS
LEN LISENBEE
Len Lisenbee's "Outdoors" column runs on Sundays in the Daily Messenger.
Last week was full of ups and downs, so that is what I am serving up today.
Fortunately, the biggest news was a giant up. The Reynolds Pheasant Farm in Ithaca will not be closing after all, though the real story is why Gov. Paterson changed his mind so quickly.
As many of my 73 semiregular readers know, sportsmen across the state - from Montauk to Niagara Falls - rose up in disagreement over the farm's possible closure. The Executive Mansion in Albany was inundated with letters, postcards, emails and phone calls. Gov.
Paterson and his fiercely anti-hunting aide Judith Enck, who is the real authority behind all DEC policies, said "ho-hum."
They had decided to close the farm, and nothing was going to change their minds.
Ah, but wait. A group of sportsmen's organizations, including the Conservation Alliance of New York, NYS conservation Council, NRA, National Shooting Sports Alliance, the state Rifle and Pistol Association and several others, filed a lawsuit in Albany state court on Jan. 15 requesting that Paterson be enjoined from closing the farm.
Their reasoning was that New York sportsmen had paid the full amount of budget money to run the farm, and by state law, the Governor was prohibited from closing it.
Now, here is the funny part. On Jan. 16 at about 9:30 a.m., the judge in this case agreed with the plaintiffs (the good guys) and issued an injunction against the Governor. One of the state lawyers must have called Paterson and given him the bad news, because by 10 a.m. he had issued a press release announcing that he had decided not to close the farm after all. At the same time he directed the farm's staff to prepare for a full propagation season this spring.
Well, I wanted to find out the real truth about what went on inside the Governor's office, and one of my sources deep inside the government told me that Enck was involved with payback to some anti-hunting groups (the Humane Society and PETA were two) and had convinced Paterson that he could close the farm and hunters would eventually just accept it as fact. She did not anticipate a legal fight.
When that battle did enter into the picture, and the judge ruled against the Governor, Paterson was extremely upset and afraid of a messy, drawn-out court fight. He ordered Enck to make the problem go away immediately, and she was forced to eat crow and send out the press release. Her stock with the Governor has dropped severely as a result.
Actually Paterson learned several important lessons from this fiasco. There are about a million hunters in New York and about 4.5 million gun owners, and while they appear to be content to go their own way most of the time, if you rile them up sufficiently, they will bite back fast and hard.
Paterson got nipped in his political tender parts, and he didn't like it one bit.
The anti-gun people have been active in the state legislature.
To date 30 anti-gun bills have been introduced that would restrict, inhibit and penalize lawful and honest gun owners in this state. I have reviewed every single one of those bills, and the crazy thing is that none of them contain any provisions that would fight crime or restrict criminal activity. They all are directed at lawful gun owners and/or dealers.
For example, A-801 would require all holders of pistol licenses to obtain renewals every five years. All permit holders would have to be "recertified" (another criminal history background check) at renewal time. And anyone applying for a handgun permit for the first time would be required to take and pass a gun safety course. Oh, and there would be some serious renewal fees charged for these "services."
A-1326 would bar persons, firms or corporations engaged in the retail business of selling firearms from selling, delivering or transferring any "child operated firearms."
What is a "child operated firearm?" It means any pistol or revolver made one year after the effective date of passage of this bill that does not contain a "child-proofing device or mechanism incorporated into the design of such pistol or revolver to effectively preclude an average 5 year old from firing same." Violations would be a Class A misdemeanor. Oh, and the required technology for these guns does not even exist.
Another proposal would require the sale or transfer of rifles and shotguns between unlicensed people to be conducted through a federally licensed firearms dealer. Another would regulate the sale of ammunition by requiring the imprinting of a serial number on each bullet jacket and bullet lead, more technology that does not even exist.
There is one other matter that I find troubling.
It is almost a sure bet that Gov. Paterson will require the DEC to raise hunting/fishing/trapping licenses and stamp fees substantially this year. At the same time, other governors of states with fewer fiscal problems than New York are seizing their states' conservation funds for general treasury use and issuing an IOU in return.
Could this happen here?
Well, the conservation fund has been raided several times before, most recently by governors Cuomo and Pataki. So yes, it could happen.
Whether it will remains to be seen.
Len Lisenbee is a Daily Messenger outdoors columnist.
Contact him with questions or comments at lisenbee@frontiernet.net.
EVERYONE HAS TO KEEP ON THESE IDIOTS AND TELL THEM THAT WE DON"T
NEED ANYMORE GARBAGE GUN LAWS THAT WON"T DO ANYTHING!!! JUST GO ASK THE ONCE LAW BIDING GUN OWNERS IN AUSTRALIA THAT TURNED IN THEIR
GUNS.THE ONLY SMART ONES WERE THE OUTLAWS. LIKE THE BUMPER STICKER
SAYS. IF GUNS ARE OUTLAWED ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS!!!
THANKS RODAN
Len Lisenbee's "Outdoors" column runs on Sundays in the Daily Messenger.
Last week was full of ups and downs, so that is what I am serving up today.
Fortunately, the biggest news was a giant up. The Reynolds Pheasant Farm in Ithaca will not be closing after all, though the real story is why Gov. Paterson changed his mind so quickly.
As many of my 73 semiregular readers know, sportsmen across the state - from Montauk to Niagara Falls - rose up in disagreement over the farm's possible closure. The Executive Mansion in Albany was inundated with letters, postcards, emails and phone calls. Gov.
Paterson and his fiercely anti-hunting aide Judith Enck, who is the real authority behind all DEC policies, said "ho-hum."
They had decided to close the farm, and nothing was going to change their minds.
Ah, but wait. A group of sportsmen's organizations, including the Conservation Alliance of New York, NYS conservation Council, NRA, National Shooting Sports Alliance, the state Rifle and Pistol Association and several others, filed a lawsuit in Albany state court on Jan. 15 requesting that Paterson be enjoined from closing the farm.
Their reasoning was that New York sportsmen had paid the full amount of budget money to run the farm, and by state law, the Governor was prohibited from closing it.
Now, here is the funny part. On Jan. 16 at about 9:30 a.m., the judge in this case agreed with the plaintiffs (the good guys) and issued an injunction against the Governor. One of the state lawyers must have called Paterson and given him the bad news, because by 10 a.m. he had issued a press release announcing that he had decided not to close the farm after all. At the same time he directed the farm's staff to prepare for a full propagation season this spring.
Well, I wanted to find out the real truth about what went on inside the Governor's office, and one of my sources deep inside the government told me that Enck was involved with payback to some anti-hunting groups (the Humane Society and PETA were two) and had convinced Paterson that he could close the farm and hunters would eventually just accept it as fact. She did not anticipate a legal fight.
When that battle did enter into the picture, and the judge ruled against the Governor, Paterson was extremely upset and afraid of a messy, drawn-out court fight. He ordered Enck to make the problem go away immediately, and she was forced to eat crow and send out the press release. Her stock with the Governor has dropped severely as a result.
Actually Paterson learned several important lessons from this fiasco. There are about a million hunters in New York and about 4.5 million gun owners, and while they appear to be content to go their own way most of the time, if you rile them up sufficiently, they will bite back fast and hard.
Paterson got nipped in his political tender parts, and he didn't like it one bit.
The anti-gun people have been active in the state legislature.
To date 30 anti-gun bills have been introduced that would restrict, inhibit and penalize lawful and honest gun owners in this state. I have reviewed every single one of those bills, and the crazy thing is that none of them contain any provisions that would fight crime or restrict criminal activity. They all are directed at lawful gun owners and/or dealers.
For example, A-801 would require all holders of pistol licenses to obtain renewals every five years. All permit holders would have to be "recertified" (another criminal history background check) at renewal time. And anyone applying for a handgun permit for the first time would be required to take and pass a gun safety course. Oh, and there would be some serious renewal fees charged for these "services."
A-1326 would bar persons, firms or corporations engaged in the retail business of selling firearms from selling, delivering or transferring any "child operated firearms."
What is a "child operated firearm?" It means any pistol or revolver made one year after the effective date of passage of this bill that does not contain a "child-proofing device or mechanism incorporated into the design of such pistol or revolver to effectively preclude an average 5 year old from firing same." Violations would be a Class A misdemeanor. Oh, and the required technology for these guns does not even exist.
Another proposal would require the sale or transfer of rifles and shotguns between unlicensed people to be conducted through a federally licensed firearms dealer. Another would regulate the sale of ammunition by requiring the imprinting of a serial number on each bullet jacket and bullet lead, more technology that does not even exist.
There is one other matter that I find troubling.
It is almost a sure bet that Gov. Paterson will require the DEC to raise hunting/fishing/trapping licenses and stamp fees substantially this year. At the same time, other governors of states with fewer fiscal problems than New York are seizing their states' conservation funds for general treasury use and issuing an IOU in return.
Could this happen here?
Well, the conservation fund has been raided several times before, most recently by governors Cuomo and Pataki. So yes, it could happen.
Whether it will remains to be seen.
Len Lisenbee is a Daily Messenger outdoors columnist.
Contact him with questions or comments at lisenbee@frontiernet.net.
EVERYONE HAS TO KEEP ON THESE IDIOTS AND TELL THEM THAT WE DON"T
NEED ANYMORE GARBAGE GUN LAWS THAT WON"T DO ANYTHING!!! JUST GO ASK THE ONCE LAW BIDING GUN OWNERS IN AUSTRALIA THAT TURNED IN THEIR
GUNS.THE ONLY SMART ONES WERE THE OUTLAWS. LIKE THE BUMPER STICKER
SAYS. IF GUNS ARE OUTLAWED ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS!!!
THANKS RODAN
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This is sad.[:(]
I don't think it can be considered a victory for the simple fact that we're always playing defense. Just waiting(if you will)to fight the next anti-constitutional bill/act ect to keep something we already have.
In this case not just the government by the humane society and PETA as well.[xx(]0
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