NY STATE NEWS

NY EMPIRE STATE GAMES - NIXES SHOOTING EVENTS

DEC proposes additional restrictions because of CWD threat in Deer and Elk.

Problems with Niagara Co. Sheriff holding up pistol licenses.

NATIONAL NEWS

Conn. wants to follow NY's lead and waste $11,000 a day on a "GUN DNA" program.

Soft Skull Press to publish Bellesiles discredit book. "Arming of America"

9th Circuit Court of Appeals forced to amend Silveira v. Lockyer Second Amendment case to exclude citations from Bellesiles

A letter that I sent to the Times Herald-Record Editorial Board

     The editorial board of the T H-R, normally supports every new gun law that places additional restrictions or regulation on any gun or gun owner, no matter how impractical or expensive the new law will be. As long as the new law holds the promise of keeping one legal gun out of the hands of one legal gun owner or adds additional restrictions or regulations, the editorial board supports the new law. So, when Gov. Pataki proposed new gun legislation in 2000, the Editorial Board of the Times Herald-Record was all for the new gun laws even before they knew the details of what was in the legislation. One of Gov. Pataki’s new programs that was to waste the most amount of tax money and manpower was the Ballistic Identification Data Bank or CoBIS program, NY State’s own Gun DNA program. The CoBIS program also increased the cost of buying handguns in NY State and limited the guns that can be bought because some gun makers will not comply with the requirements.
     At an initial setup cost of $4,000,000 and costing $4,000,000 plus a year, the program went into effect on March 1st, 2001. As of February 1st, 2003 the CoBIS Program has registered over 35,000 legal handguns owned by legal gun owners. How successful has it been? Not one gun has been traced to one gun crime, much less tied a specific criminal to a specific crime. An even worse record than even those of us who knew what a waste of money, and even more importantly, valuable police work hours the program would be. Even if they had connected one gun used in a crime the success rate would still only be .00003125. (The cost to register each gun is more than the cost of many of the guns being registered.)
     At a time when NY State is in one of its worse financial crisis, will the T H-R Editorial Board reconsider its support of the program and write an editorial stating that while the program had good intentions, today’s technology does not allow the required data to be colleted in a cost efficient manner and the history of the program proves that it is not the legal gun owners of NY State that are the problem or pose a threat?
     It has always been evident that it is the criminals who live in NY State that create a market for illegal guns in NY State. Criminals in NY State who illegally obtain guns by many means supply this illegal market with guns. It is obvious to everyone willing to take the time to look, that the law-abiding gun owner who lives in NY is not the problem. It is also just as obvious that criminals will not comply with the law and if the criminal market requires that the illegal guns supplied to NY State criminals be altered to avoid “GUN DNA” programs, then that is what the criminals will do. The suggestion to require other states to waste their money to register more guns will not solve the programs problems and the call to register more types of guns will also not solve the problem.
     At a time when every dollar counts, major programs are being cut and Gov. Pataki is proposing that criminals be released early to save money, the CoBIS program’s only success is that is an excellent example of expensive “FEEL GOOD” legislation that has no benefit. The laws should be changed and the $4,000,000 + saved and put to better use and all of the work hours that the State Police are spending on the CoBIS program should be use to investigate real crimes committed by real criminals. Their time is too valuable to waste it on recording even more information of legal guns owned by legal gun owners legally sold in NY State. No matter what the excuse or reason someone might use to support the CoBIS program, no one can argue with the total 100% failure of the program.

Barbara Bedell covers Shawangunk Fish and Game Club's Game Dinner
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WHOLE ARTICLE

     Barbara Bedell who writes a daily column for the T H-R covered the SFGC's annual dinner with pictures. She wrote a very nice article talked about the good points of eating game food and the SFGC club.

     Talk in the showroom had little to do with the current standoff on Iraq. Instead, it centered around big game hunting, encroaching regulations on the industry, and reasons why 16-year-olds should be allowed to hunt big game with rifles.
     Ed Wilson of the Orange County Federation of Sportsmen's Club, said it's "absurd" that New York is the only state that bans adolescents from using rifles to hunt big game. "Young kids are statistically less accident prone," he said.

Changes at Orange County Sheriff's Department

     The new Orange County's Sheriff Carl E. DuBois, has started to make some changes in the Sheriff's Department. One of the changes is in the ID department that is responsible for the background checks for new pistol licenses and the recheck required under the "Brady Bill" for licenses over 5 years old if an amendment to add a handgun to a license is applied for. The ID Department has to process between 30 and 35 new applications, on average, every week so it does take a lot of work to keep the applications on track. Besides the Pistol Licenses, the department has many other duties including taking care of firearms that are turned in and doing the background checks for a Sheriff's Department applications for employment and other legally required background checks such as fire department. They also provides support services for criminal investigations, crime scene investigations; processing of evidence for latent fingerprints or trace evidence; providing photographs or photo processing services; and criminal record filing and other additional services. It looks like it might take a few months to catch up with the backlog caused by the change of administrations and the new reorganization. They are also doing a more work on the background checks and contacting the people who are used as a reference.
      The Sheriff's Department is also looking into buying what used to be Knight's Range north of Florida. It is a great location and it has a 100 yard indoor range and additional areas that the department can use for training. Knight's Range is only 5 miles and or 10 minutes away from the new Sheriff's Department Headquarters and would be a "turn key" purchase.
     A new range is needed because the old range was outdoors in Goshen and has been closed because of the worry of lead contamination. Several other Orange County police departments also used the old range and they will need a new location to train.

Ducks Unlimited Dinner, Sunday, 2/16/03

     It looks like this is going to be the best DU Dinner ever. They are holding it at a new location the Holiday Inn, 68 Crystal Run Road, Middletown, NY and they have a sponsor. Expect some nice prizes and some good food. Call 845-733-5741 or To see pictures from last years dinner CLICK HERE.

NY EMPIRE STATE GAMES - NIXES SHOOTING EVENTS

Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 15:46:22 -0500
From: "AJ Chwick" <NCNF@TheCompleteMachine.Com>
Subject: [For NYers] EMPIRE STATE GAMES - NIXES SHOOTING EVENTS

[Note: For those who don't know Tom King is the President of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association (NYSRPA) and Chuck Meyer is a director of the NYSRPA (and heads up the shooting program for the Empire State Games).

Good evening, Tom. (Tom King is the President of the NYSRPA.)

     This Valentine’s Day didn't bring love and kisses from the Empire State Games. I thought that since the state association under your guidance had generously supported the 2002 games, you should be one of the first to be aware of the events that have taken place.
     This afternoon I received a call, telling me that the shooting events would be deleted from the 2003 games at Buffalo. Three other events were also canceled--fencing, water polo, and open field hockey. The reason for these cancellations was the severe cuts in the budget for the Department of Parks. According to ________, the ESG office had considered several options and had made the decision to drop the shooting events and above events from this year's games because of their high costs. Also mentioned, was the reluctance of the colleges to have shooting competitors housed on their campus. Since the shooting competitors have never caused any problems during their stay, I find this hypocritical in view of the questionable behavior of college students in general.
     In November 2002, I attended a state chair's meeting at Buffalo and felt reasonably comfortable that the shooting events would continue especially with the support that the state association would provide. Today, I discussed possible cost reductions in the shooting events that could be made but the decision had been finalized. _________ requested that I contact him after the games in August to see whether the financial situation would be improved enough to have the shooting events restored for the 2004 games. However, the 2004 state financial picture doesn't look any brighter than this year's so any meeting may be just going through the motions.
     I've known that the shooting events are the most costly events of the games since there are costs that other events don't incur. Rental of private ranges for the events, equipment security, competitor transportation, competitor meals at the ranges and special shooting machinery (for running target, rapid fire pistol, women's sport pistol). What other competitors don't have to bear are the ammunition and equipment costs; however, I’ve never heard a competitor complain. They are in the games to compete and enjoy the company of other competitors.
     According to __________the cost to the games for each shooting competitor is roughly $350. Hockey is next at $250; however, spectators must pay to get into the hockey matches thereby off-setting some of the hockey costs. The shooting events, however, are free to family and spectators. I thought that the association's generous donation for the 2002 games would have muted any concern about the costs of the shooting events, but that was wishful thinking. It would have been nice to have been contacted during their planning to see if some part of the shooting events could have been included in the 2003 games.
     I don't know if we have any friends in Albany that could turn things around but would appreciate if someone could put in a good word since the shooting events have been a part of the games since their beginning in 1978. Shooters have conducted themselves in an exemplary manner unlike other competitors and I have been very proud of the way the shooting events have been conducted. Even the games office has expressed their appreciation for the smooth operation of the games shooting events each year and the timely fashion that the results of the events have been provided to the ESG office.
     If the shooting events should be decidedly deleted from the 2003 games, the association should consider backing an annual state wide Olympic style shooting games. Selection for the games would be the same as presently used for the Empire State Games, however, the competitors would have to pay a match fee to offset the cost of the matches. Unless there is substantial support from sponsors, a state wide shooting Olympics would be limited to a central location like the capital district.
     Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Would appreciate any comments or suggestions that you may have regarding the future of the shooting events in the games or in a state association sponsored event.
          Take care, Chuck

DEC proposes additional restrictions because of CWD threat in Deer and Elk.
by Jacob J. Rieper, Legislative Director NYSRPA

     Under a proposed regulation being floated at an ongoing series of public meetings held by the DEC on the CWD threat, hunters who kill deer or elk in any other state or country would be barred from bringing whole carcasses or trophy heads back to New York. Venison brought into our state would have to be completely boned-out, packaged and labeled as to species, place of origin, name of taker and destination. Capes, cleaned skulls and antlers could be transported, but all brains, eyes, spinal cords, tonsils, spleens and lymph nodes would be prohibited cargo. Currently these restrictions apply only to deer or elk taken in states which are known to be infected with CWD. The DEC also intends to make permanent the current prohibition against supplemental feeding of deer. That ban is designed to curb the spread of disease among deer which congregate at feeding sites maintained by rod and gun clubs, rural towns, and such.

Problems with Niagara Co. Sheriff holding up pistol licenses.
from Jacob J. Rieper

     The New Gun Week reports that the Niagara Co. Sheriff Tom Beilein is holding up processing applications for pistol licenses. In 1/1/03 issue of the Buffalo News Sheriff Beilien attributes the indefinite hold on the processing of applications due to staff and budget cuts.
     UPDATE 2/3/03 According to Legislator William Davignon, a deal has been worked out with the Niagara County Clerk's office and Sheriff Beilein to offer "one stop shopping" for pistol license applicants. Niagara residents should contact the County Clerk's office at 716-439-7022 for more information. A hearing will be held at the March 24 meeting of the Niagara County Federation of Conservation Clubs to discuss the issue. For more information contact NCFCC President Bill Tobin via snail-mail at 5583 Ridege Road, Lockport, N.Y. 14094.

Conn. wants to follow NY's lead and waste $11,000 a day on a "GUN DNA" program.
CLICK HER TO SEE THE WHOLE NEW HAVEN REGISTER ARTICLE
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE OCShooters.com CoBIS REPORT

     Political leaders in Conn. want to follow the lead of NY and Maryland and start their own "GUN DNA" program. Because they have no idea about what they are talking about it sounds like a good idea. The article states that they think that it will cost $2-$3 a gun, (while in NY we have spent between $8 million and $12 million to record 35,000 guns = at least $223 a gun, and NY has only recorded information from 35,000 handguns sold in two years while Conn. could expect 60,000 handguns to be sold in two years,) to record the information from the spent bullet and shell casing, (NY only requires that a shell casing be recorded,) to solve random acts of crime, (NY has yet to connect data from one of the 35,000 handguns to a crime much less a criminal.)

Soft Skull Press to publish Bellesiles discredit book. "Arming of America"
CLICK HERE FOR THE SOFT SKULL PRESS RELEASE IN PDF

     Soft Skull Press who bills itself as a publisher of "fearless, progressive, independently minded literature, ..." has decided to publish another edition of "Arming America." Based in Brooklyn, NY, publisher of other famous books like BOMB THE SUBURBS by William Upski Wimsatt author of No More Prisons, The Pres. George W. Bush bashing book, FORTUNATE SON: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President, What the F**k and You Don't Have to F**k People Over to Survive. They do defend the book but are forced to call upon a contributing editor for The Nation in order to find someone who will do it and as Publisher Richard Nash states, “It is imperative that we stand up to the NRA smear machine."
     No one address the statements by the Contra Costa County Historical Society, "Last, we cannot confirm that Professor Bellesiles did substantial research in our collection in 1993 (as he claims) or at any other time before his visit in January, 2002. We do not remember him visiting our collection before his recent visit. We have searched our log books and invoices for the years 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 and find no record for research fees or photocopies. Further, we are not cited or acknowledged in his book, something we always expect and receive."

9th Circuit Court of Appeals forced to amend Silveira v. Lockyer Second Amendment case to exclude citations from Bellesiles
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WHOLE STORY: 9th Circuit Court Ditches Anti-gun "History" Professor

     When the 9th Circuit Court wrote its opinion that " the Second Amendment affords only a collective
right to own or possess guns or other firearms," as they dismissed a challenge to California’s ban on so-called “assault weapons.”  As part of their poof they cited Bellesiles work twice. The court was forced to amend its opinion after it was published, (a very unusual act,) by removing one footnote citing Bellesiles's work and replacing another Bellesiles footnote with information from another author. (It is the 9th Circuit Court who ruled the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because of the words “under God,” and whose rulings are overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States more often than any other.)