GUN OWNERSHIP
Pataki's gun fee proposals spark outcry
2/22/2004
By WILL ELLIOTT
Gov. George E. Pataki has fired another shot heard 'round the state.
Gun owners, pistol shooters and collectors in particular could get hit with a volley of permit fee increases and a change in permit status, if Assembly bill 9556 and Senate bill 6956, part of the governor's new budget, are passed.
Currently, pistol permits are issued for the life of the applicant, after a rigorous investigation of that applicant's status with various legal agencies.
Will Fowler, a pistol permit supervisor, said, "Right now, when a person applies for a pistol permit, we collect $99 for a criminal justice services and FBI criminal records check. After approval, applicants pay $5 for a permit and $3 for each gun added or removed." An applicant's permit remains valid until revoked or the holder dies, Fowler added.
Erie County Clerk David J. Swarts sees enacting these proposed fee changes as "an administrative nightmare."
"These fees would become a burden on county clerks' office staffs to fulfill all sections of law," Swarts said. "This county has the largest number of permit holders in the state, almost 70,000, and, as mandated in this proposal, all permits would need to be reissued by February of 2005." The clerk's office would have to triple its staff to comply with this new law.
The County Clerk's office now collects about $30,000 in fees each year at a cost of about $250,000. Collection of mandated fees would raise office costs to about $1 million and remove ceilings on county fees, Swarts said. He noted that subsequent permit fees would have to be raised well above the proposed $100 fee just to cover renewal expenses.
Swarts recalls a similar bill proposal in 1987, designed with an allowance for fee increases and renewable every five years.
"Back then, we realized that fees would have to be doubled to cover costs," he said.
For hunters, shooters and gun collectors, these fees are more than a slight imposition.
If passed, Gov. Pataki's permit fees would "cancel all lifetime New York handgun licenses," according to SCOPE, the Shooters Committee on Political Education.
"It amounts to nothing more than confiscation by taxation," John Susz of SCOPE said during the January Erie County Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs meeting. Susz pointed out that new pistol permit fee assessments would force many pistol owners to sell or turn in handguns that they could not afford to keep.
"It (pistol ownership) would become an exclusive privilege of the wealthy if these new fees become law," said Stephen Aldstad, Erie County SCOPE chairman, echoing Darren Szczudlik, a salesman at the Buffalo Gun Center.
Chauncey Parker, Gov. Pataki's criminal justice adviser, told lawmakers that the state "must keep better and more current track of handguns," comparing permit renewal with those for driving or fishing licenses.
However, state and federal agencies already have records of all gun owner purchases and of any criminal proceedings involving a gun owner. While drivers and anglers pay fees to subsidize roads and fishing opportunities, pistol owners - and long gun owners in the future if lawmakers get their way - pay to reregister their property.
A pistol permit is more akin to a property deed or a marriage license than to a driver's or fishing license. After thorough checks, government agencies do not charge additional processing fees for continued property ownership or for an ongoing marriage.
Harold "Budd" Schroeder, with the Erie County SCOPE chapter, said lawmakers and county clerks' offices across the state are generally opposed to the permit fee changes.
"But legislators have to know just how strong those feelings are against these fees, especially leading figures like Paul A. Tokasz, the Assembly majority leader."
Schroeder sees Tokasz as "on the fence and needs to be made aware of strong opposition to these fees."
Schroeder suggested looking up lawmakers' phone numbers in the phone book on the local and state pages - especially Tokasz.
SCOPE has a legislative search on its Web site. By entering your ZIP code, you'll get state senate and assembly representatives where you live. To find legislators' addresses and phone numbers, go to:
www.scopeny.org e-mail: wille@pce.net
