To the Editor:

Welcome back to another edition of, how stupid can a liberal politician be. Apparently their level of stupidity is unmatched. Another of the so-called “ gun control” bills passed by an under informed, overeducated liberal proves this. This bill mandates every legally licensed concealed handgun permit holder will have to take a 16 hour training course and will include 2 hours of live fire.

Also, they will have to achieve a certain score to keep their permit. How they decided that 2 hours of live fire training makes you proficient is anyone's guess. Imagine you are a man or woman who has a handgun in your nightstand for protection. The reason you have this handgun for protection is because you might not have the physical strength to hold up a long gun due to old age or a medical condition. You are supposed to sit through 16 hours of classroom instruction and 2 hours of live fire just to protect yourself. The same goes for someone that might have a physical disability that prevents them from holding up a long gun. So are these people going to have to turn their handguns in? How will they be able to protect themselves?

Can one of these liberal politicians tell me how this bill will stop a crime of any type? They passed a law mandating a course that does not exist yet; they don’t even know who will teach it.

They don’t know where it will be taught and they don’t know how much it will cost. Yet, as of September 1, all permit renewals and new applicants are required to have it. State officials are also talking about not issuing any permits, or processing any renewals until a course is settled on.

Again, they are denying you your constitutional right to purchase a firearm to protect yourself because they aren’t smart enough to do their research before passing useless bills. They also didn’t think things through before passing this law. I know, what a shocker! Albany and thinking don’t go together. Most of these bills only protect the criminal. This one however, does not. By mandating a minimum proficiency score, they are making thug life potentially deadly.

Essentially, they have created a state full of expert marksmen and women. Now all of the gun toting Grannies will have some confidence in their shooting abilities. Instead of just wanting to scare off the scumbag criminal, they might decide to just shoot them dead in her house. After all, New York State says she is a proficient shooter. I know this sounds extreme, but Granny has to do what she’s got to do.If I was the surviving family of some poor, misunderstood street thug shot by sharpshooter Granny, I might have to sue the State of New York for training her to be an expert shot. Before receiving all of this training, Granny might have been happy to just scare him off to end the conflict.

After thinking a little more about this bill, I have decided that it is absolute genius.We won’t have to change the bail reform policies. We won’t have to wait for the police to arrest them. We won’t have to worry about the liberal DA’s letting them go. We won’t have to worry about them being mistreated in the prison system. If these thugs break into our houses, we can just let the concealed carry permit holders, trained by New York State, shoot them dead. As I said, every family of one of these scumbag criminals shot by someone trained by New York State should sue the State. Law enforcement has enough to worry about, without having to clean up the sloppiness of the politicians. There are not enough police officer’s now to keep up with all of the crime in our state. Why don’t we let them protect and serve the citizens that deserve it. Then let our DA’s and Judge’s incarcerate and institutionalize the ones that deserve that as well.

What we need is for all of the elected Sheriff’s in New York State to make a stand on behalf of all of the law abiding citizens in this state. They need to tell Albany that they will not entertain these blatant attacks on the rights of the law abiding citizens. As elected officials, they have the power to do so. Unfortunately, Albany will just start holding back the money these departments need to survive. I and the rest of the Second Amendment supporters would like to know where our Sheriff stands on these issues. We have not heard anything from him regarding this mess.

In St. Lawrence County the majority of the people that elected our Sheriff are the supporters of the Second Amendment, and the very people these foolish laws affect. I believe that these same people could still be upset, when the next election takes place if they think he didn’t stand up for us. Recently it has been brought to my attention that the State Police are asking for “some more” information in order to process handgun permit applications. They are asking for about 10 pages of extra information encompassing several topics. Along with asking about treatment for mental health, which for the most part I agree with. They also ask if you are being treated for any medical conditions. Sounds like a HIPPA violation to me. They also ask if you currently own any firearms. What does this have to do with applying for a handgun permit?

Oh, I know. It means they will know where they need to go looking for firearms if they decide to deny your application for any reason. They will come to your house, maybe knock on your door and ask for your firearms, until everything gets settled. Sadly, these regulations, as well as the others only apply to the law abiding citizen. We all know that the local State Police don’t come up with all of these moronic policies. They are stuck with the job of enforcing the dumb ideas of the bean counters in Albany. My hope is that a judge will rule that these laws are pure nonsense and not constitutional. Quite frankly, I am sick of writing letters. I’m sure you are sick of reading them as well. We all need to pay attention before it’s too late. Let your elected officials know that this is not acceptable. You can also help by joining the New York State Rifle And Pistol Association. 518-272-2654 or info@nysrpa.org

They seem to be the only organization fighting for New York residents.

Scott Gray
Lisbon