Jastrzemski also vowed his office would do its utmost to make recertification “painless and quick” for Niagara County pistol permit holders. The recertification, like the pistol permits themselves, only applies to handguns, and not long guns.
“The SAFE Act is a mess, and has been since it was passed. Even now, there is no clear plan in place for the pistol permit recertification — and that recertification process will almost certainly cost our county taxpayers even as it inconveniences law-abiding gun owners,” Jastrzemski said. “However, we have to comply with this requirement. Our pistol permit holders have to comply, or their pistol permits will be put in jeopardy. That’s not our office’s decision, that’s the position of the State Police.”
Jastrzemski indicated that the new head of the State Police Pistol Permit Bureau had briefed the New York State Association of County Clerks in late September, but that he and many other county clerks had found that the information provided created more questions than it answered.
“The Niagara County Clerk’s Office intends to do everything it can when we’re finally notified how this recertification is going to work,” Jastrzemski said. “So far, our understanding is that there will be a web page and that all recertifications will be performed online. We will make sure we provide resources so that doesn’t place the rights of pistol permit holders without Internet access at risk.”
There still is no launch date for the recertification website. That has left county lawmakers concerned, according to Legislator John Syracuse, R-Newfane, who has functioned as the governing Majority Caucus’s gun rights czar in recent years.
“I’ve talked to my colleagues and to sportsmen and gun owners throughout the county, and the lack of a discernible plan, the lack of guidance at this point, is troubling,” Syracuse said Monday afternoon. “The Cuomo administration has placed this burdensome new requirement on our pistol permit holders, but hasn’t even told us how it’s going to be implemented or enforced a year out from the deadline. We don’t even know the web address yet. That’s unacceptable.”
Jastrzemski added that the State Police’s planned online-only recertification process underlined a key flaw in the SAFE Act, authored by Sen. Jeffrey D. Klein, D-Bronx, which heavily impacts pistol permit holders in Upstate counties.
“People who live in rural areas tend to be gun owners,” Jastrzemski said. “They also tend to have the worst Internet access.”
Jastrzemski pointed to a survey, conducted by the Niagara-Orleans Regional Alliance, that found 4,000 homes in the Niagara-Orleans region had no access to an Internet Service Provider, and 20,000 to 30,000 homes had no access to high-speed Internet.
“Obviously, an online-only recertification discriminates against rural gun owners,” Jastrzemski said. “We’ll do our best to mitigate that in the county Pistol Permit Office.”
Jastrzemski said he was working with county officials to ensure a computer terminal will be available in the Pistol Permit Office for the sole purpose of recertification.
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