Police will enforce the new gun control law touted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as a victory for safety, but that doesn’t mean they have to agree with it.
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple isn’t convinced the SAFE Act will make the streets any safer, despite what the legislation’s acronym implies, but thinks it could turn formerly lawful gun owners into criminals. The real problem, according to Apple, isn’t the assault weapons targeted by the law, but rather the illegal handguns already on the streets.
“It does not address our problem locally,” Apple said. “We are addressing an issue that is only going to affect law-abiding citizens.”
Apple, who is a Democrat, says he isn’t “upset” with the governor, but rather the process of how the law was approved — in a hasty manner with little input from outside of the Capitol.
“We were never given a chance, at least the sheriffs in the state, to participate in the debate for or against it because there really wasn’t any,” Apple said. “I certainly want provisions of this law repealed.”
The New York State Sheriffs’ Association previously voiced similar concerns over not being included in discussions and suggested portions of the law be amended or clarified.
“Any time government decides it is necessary or desirable to nibble around the edges of a Constitutional right that it should only be done with caution and with great respect for the Constitutional boundaries,” read a statement previously released by the Sheriffs’ Association. “And it should only be done if the benefit to be gained is so great and certain that it far outweighs the damage done by the constriction of individual liberty. While many of the provisions of this bill have surface appeal, it is far from certain that all, or even many, of them will have any significant effect in reducing gun violence, which is the presumed goal of all of us.”
Apple didn’t explicitly call the law unconstitutional, but claimed it infringes on the right to bear arms.
“I think it does in fact start to encroach on our second amendment,” Apple said.
Other local law enforcement officers had opinions that varied from that of Apple, who holds an elected office. Bethlehem Police Chief Louis Corsi acknowledged the controversy over the law, but declined to share his opinion and thus get involved in the politics of it.
“From a law enforcement perspective, at the end of the day we are charged with enforcing the law … and that is what we intend to do,” Corsi said. “My personal opinion on this has no bearing at all.”
Colonie Police Chief Steven Heider said he understands the emotional response some gun owners have towards the law, but believes there are “a lot of great things” within it.
“I am probably one of the most in the middle kind of people, I am not a gun enthusiast and I am not anti-gun either,” Heider said.
Heider said once past emotional issues, people might see the positives to the SAFE Act. He also reaffirmed police officers wouldn’t go to people’s homes and confiscate weapons newly banned under the law.
“This bill does not create a police state,” Heider said.
Heider, along with Apple and the Sheriffs’ Association, pointed to new reporting requirements for mental health care professionals as a benefit of the law.
The state Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors said requiring practitioners to report people who are a dangerous to themselves or others to the local Director of Community Services, a provision that becomes effective March 16, would overburden mental health offices and would “cost local governments millions of dollars” annually.
Other SAFE Act provisions like strengthening penalties for those who kill first responders, requiring safe storage of firearms and increasing penalties for illegal use of weapons have generally been uncontroversial.
Apple and Heider said some sections of the law are based on good faith, such as limiting magazines to holding seven rounds, and police likely wouldn’t ever discover those violations unless investigating another charge.
“To take a 10-round magazine and tell people to only put seven rounds in it, come on,” Apple said.
The act also strengthened penalties for crimes like possessing an unloaded illegal gun. Apple suggested penalties for carrying an illegal gun be even tougher, with a mandatory five-year sentence.
Heider said the proliferation of illegal weapons has only increased gun violence because people who want to do bad things can more easily obtain a weapon.
“The unfortunate part is that there are just so many guns available for people that want to do something bad with them and unfortunately, this law does not address that,” Heider said.
In the hilltowns of Albany County, guns aren’t a large concern for law enforcement, Apple said. During the past decade there have been two murders in the hilltowns, with the weapons of choice being a bungee cord in one and cutlery in the other.
“Bad people are always going to do bad things,” Apple said.