State and County Squabble Over New Gun Law
By: Vanessa Herring
Updated: February 12, 2013
More than 45,000 pistol permit holders in Monroe County will be able to make sure their information is kept private under the new NYSAFE Act, but they'll need access to a form, "it was our hope that the state would be mailing the opt out forms to the pistol permit holders so they would have the opportunity to complete that form and they would be fully aware of it, what I understand now is that the state will not be doing that," explained Monroe County Clerk Cheryl Dinolfo.
Dinolfo says local taxpayers will bear the burden, "the county and the county taxpayers will be responsible for trying to get that information out to our customers here in Monroe County."
Dinolfo says processing the opt out forms will also create a lot of work, "once they come here they actually go over to the county court and so a county judge will then be looking at the opt out form and approving the form and returning it back to the county clerk for input into a data base," explained Dinolfo, "so you can see the manpower and the labor that's involved and that certainly would be costly."
In a position statement the New York State Association of County Clerks said, "any costs associated with the implementation of the SAFE Act must be borne by the State, not the local counties." Dinolfo added, "the counties are really in a situation where, to ask the counties to do more and to pay more is probably not a good thing."
A spokesman for Governor Cuomo's office issued the following statement in response to Dinolfo's claim, "As the law clearly states, any costs related to the NY SAFE Act will be covered by the state. Registration processes under the NY SAFE Act will be simple and readily available online, and come at no cost to localities. Any assertion that the law will pass costs down to counties is simply not based on facts and ignores what the law actually says."
Dinolfo is encouraging pistol permit holders to register their e-mail addresses with her office. They'll e-mail the form to you when it's available. Then, you can print it and mail it back. To register your e-mail address click here.
Dinolfo says local taxpayers will bear the burden, "the county and the county taxpayers will be responsible for trying to get that information out to our customers here in Monroe County."
Dinolfo says processing the opt out forms will also create a lot of work, "once they come here they actually go over to the county court and so a county judge will then be looking at the opt out form and approving the form and returning it back to the county clerk for input into a data base," explained Dinolfo, "so you can see the manpower and the labor that's involved and that certainly would be costly."
In a position statement the New York State Association of County Clerks said, "any costs associated with the implementation of the SAFE Act must be borne by the State, not the local counties." Dinolfo added, "the counties are really in a situation where, to ask the counties to do more and to pay more is probably not a good thing."
A spokesman for Governor Cuomo's office issued the following statement in response to Dinolfo's claim, "As the law clearly states, any costs related to the NY SAFE Act will be covered by the state. Registration processes under the NY SAFE Act will be simple and readily available online, and come at no cost to localities. Any assertion that the law will pass costs down to counties is simply not based on facts and ignores what the law actually says."
Dinolfo is encouraging pistol permit holders to register their e-mail addresses with her office. They'll e-mail the form to you when it's available. Then, you can print it and mail it back. To register your e-mail address click here.
