“New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and her cohorts in the state legislature are appalled that so many residents are choosing to exercise their Second Amendment rights, and they’re on the wrong side of history and the Constitution by actively impeding their attempt to do so.”
In less than two weeks New York’s sweeping new restrictions on the right to carry (passed after the Supreme Court struck down the state’s “may issue” carry laws) are slated to take effect, and one county sheriff is doing everything he can to both warn gun owners about the impending changes and to encourage businesses to welcome concealed carry holders once the new laws take effect.
Dozens of gun owners across Fulton County turned out for an informational meeting hosted by Sheriff Richard Giardino and Assemblyman Robert Smullen at a volunteer fire department on Tuesday evening, and both officials were adamantly opposed to the new restrictions, which they say could easily turn a law-abiding citizen into a felon simply for carrying a legally-possessed firearm into a location where they’ve lawfully carried for years. Under the new laws taking effect on September 1st, virtually all private property will be considered a “gun-free zone” by default, and violating the new law comes with serious consequences.
Smullen and Giardino said the gun control law will make carrying a concealed firearm into any of the list of “sensitive places” listed in the legislation a class E felony, even for the approximately 15,000 pistol permit holders in the Fulton County.
“You now have to be careful,” Smullen said. “As a law abiding gun owner, you must be careful so as not to put yourself into a position where you could be made into a criminal by a law that’s moved the goal post.”
By Cam Edwards
