TOWN OF LOCKPORT — Niagara County leaders are pushing to implement new procedures to fast-track pistol permits for county residents with verifiable threats to their safety.
“The right to self-defense in the Second Amendment is near absolute,” said Legislator John Syracuse. “When someone’s life is demonstrably in danger, government red tape shouldn’t tie them up and keep them from protecting themselves and their families.”
Syracuse, a Republican from Newfane has been the lawmaking body’s most prominent leader in protecting access to gun rights, He and several legislative colleagues began discussions with County Clerk Joseph Jastrzemski, Sheriff James R. Voutour, County Manager Rick Updegrove, and others to devise a strategy to fast-track pistol permits in what he termed “the very rare, but very real” situations where a pistol permit applicant could demonstrate “with assistance from the Sheriff’s Office and their victim advocates” that they face a threat of violence.
Jastrzemski called the new rules “smart and focused.”
“We acknowledge our residents’ rights under the Second Amendment, but we also have a legal obligation to uphold New York’s carry permit laws,” Jastrzemski said. “What we want to do, then, is make sure that for the most vulnerable, those laws don’t have the effect of making them even less safe. By fast-tracking individuals that have not just a right to protect themselves with a firearm, but a very immediate, very real reason, we are making personal safety our first consideration.”
Jastrzemski also noted that the county’s Pistol Permit Office had succeeded in reducing overall wait times for applicants with clean records to 3-4 months, making Niagara County among the fastest permit issuers in the state. “We do our best to ensure our residents have access to their rights as fast as possible. But, in some rare cases, even that’s not fast enough, we recognize it’s not, and we are taking this step to remedy that.”
Voutour, whose victims’ assistance office will help identify individuals that should have their pistol permit applications fast-tracked, emphasized the new process would be used to help individuals in extreme cases, and emphasized measures focused on public safety would remain in place.
“We suspect the need for a fast-tracked permit process will be very rare. In the event a case is discovered or presented to us, the Sheriff’s Office and County Clerk’s Office will work in unison to move the process quickly while still maintaining the integrity of the background check process.”
Joined by members of a women’s shooting league, the county leaders rolled out the new fast-track procedures at a Thursday night shoot at the North Forest Rod & Gun Club in Lockport. Implementing what Updegrove called “commonsense improvements” to the current pistol permit application process, the fast-track rules are designed to avert tragedies like the murder of Carol Bowne, who was stabbed to death by an ex-boyfriend in her New Jersey driveway despite an order of protection — and a delayed pistol permit application.
“The restraining order Carol Bowne had against her ex-boyfriend did not stop him from stalking her. The alarm system she installed in her home could not provide any warning to her. The police could not get to her in time. What could have given her a fighting chance would have been the handgun she was waiting to purchase once her long overdue permit was granted,” SCOPE Co-Chairman John Peracciny said. “We don’t want that to happen here. Now, a fast-track process can now be initiated for those legitimately at risk and completed in the matter of a few weeks as to the current normal processing time of a few months. Had such a process been available for Carol Bowne in New Jersey, she may have had the lifesaving tool she needed when seconds counted.”
Peracciny added, “In Niagara County, government listened and worked with us to help make the public safer, which is the most important goal of the gun rights community.”
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