Locals to Hochul: Scrap NY's new system for background checking gun, ammo buyers

Oct. 13—LOCKPORT — State and local government officials are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to put an end to the "unconstitutional" requirement of state-conducted background checks for gun and ammunition buyers in New York.

In a Friday press conference organized by his office, state Sen. Rob Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, said the new regulations — which as of Sept. 13 extended mandatory background checking to ammunition buyers, transferred background checking on prospective gun buyers to New York State Police, and imposed background check fees — are unworkable.

"It's not making anyone safer. This is not about safety," Ortt said. "This is about making it harder to own a gun, harder to exercise the right of operating and using that firearm, whether it's for hunting or just for keeping yourself safe in your own home."

Press conference host Joseph Olscamp, the owner-operator of Escarpment Arms on Lockport-Olcott Road, said the regulations are onerous for both sellers and buyers.

"Since the implementation of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act and Supreme Court decisions last year, there's been around 3,000 pages of new requirements, legal opinions and laws passed that we are on the hook for understanding, implementing and ultimately explaining to the customers," Olscamp said. "That is an absolutely insane amount of information to try to pass on to the average person."

New York State Police is tasked with performing background checks on ammunition buyers, as well as running federal NCIS checks on gun buyers now, and the results are "lengthy delays, sometimes hours or even days, before being approved and in some cases... being denied, even if they are lawfully able to purchase and possess firearms or ammunition," Ortt and state Assembly member Mike Norris, R-Lockport, wrote in a joint letter to Hochul this week. "The background check system created by the State requires more information than the Federal NICS system and applications take longer to fill out ... . (D)ealers are losing business of ordinarily loyal customers to firearms dealers in neighboring states that do not have the onerous and intrusive background check requirements for ammunition."

During the press conference, Niagara County Clerk Joseph Jastrzemski spoke of "confusion" around New York's gun laws, noting his office now has to initiate a recertification process for pistol permits every three years and, as of September 2022, certify semi-automatic rifles and recertify them every five years. Now, there's an issue involving the REAL ID Act as well, for residents who live out of state part of the year.

"If you have a New York state non-driver ID, which you need to re-certify with New York State Police for your pistol permit, and a REAL ID from your residence in Florida, they will suspend that (New York ID). They won't let you have that. The New York State Police need to figure out that situation, as well," Jastrzemski said.

Niagara County Sheriff Michael Filicetti expressed his wish that the state would target illegal firearms, not legal gun owners.

The current law "makes no sense to me," Filicetti said. "If you truly, truly wanted to lower the crime rates and take gun crime and knock it out of the park, you would actually go back and fix what you've done."

Ortt also addressed the database of gun owners' personal information that the state is compiling as background checks are conducted on ammunition buyers. The identifying information includes their social security number and birth date.

"It's a data collection point, why? How is it being used in a way to keep people safe?" Ortt said. "I can't tell you. The state police can't tell you, because there's no evidence. Because we're not curtailing illegal activities here. This is a fallacy that more gun laws will keep you safe."