NYS Rifle & Pistol Assoc. Supports Schimminger Pistol-Licensing Law Reform Bill

TROY, NY (06/11/2007)(readMedia)-- Currently, when a New York State resident wishes to obtain a handgun license he or she must run a gantlet of NY State laws, a patchwork of local county or city regulations, investigations, expense and wasted time. Even 9th Judicial District Administrative Judge Francis Nicolai has argued that the process needs streamlining, and that applicants throughout the State should be subject to the same licensing requirements. The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association suggests even more sweeping changes – the changes that Assemblyman Robin Schimminger has proposed in Assembly bill A-6378.

Assemblyman Schimminger’s bill would add New York to the list of 38 “shall issue” states, states like neighboring Pennsylvania and Connecticut in which law-abiding citizens who pass appropriate State and FBI investigations must be granted a concealed carry handgun license. In these states the licensing process is uniform and unencumbered by the biases of local officials, and license applicants are treated with a greater degree of fairness and dignity than New Yorkers. Law-abiding citizens in these states do not have to provide elaborate justifications for wanting to protect themselves and their families; they need only to have a “clean record.”

The NYSRPA urges all New Yorkers to support A-6378, and to contact their Assembly representative to make their views known. We further urge the Assembly to act promptly on A-6378.

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