The Observer-Dispatch published an op-ed by Oneida Co. assistant pistol license clerk Dan Sullivan in today’s paper. He makes some good points:
“… Pistol license holders are not killing people. In my 10 years in the pistol license office, there has been one pistol license holder that committed murder with a handgun: Jiverly Wong of Binghamton was the first. With the vast majority of pistol license holders being middle-class working men and women, what is the political logic of more anti-business, anti-rights, anti-gun laws that will lead to a reduction in sales tax and, quite frankly, do not work? What is bizarre is that New York has already tried this with its current ballistic testing law that requires all new guns sold in this state to be ballistic tested … The theory behind this legislation when it was passed was that if we find the lead and casing in or near the body of the victim, we can catch the killer. Tens of thousands of handguns have been tested to the tune of millions of state tax dollars per year. Killers caught? Zero! The law is so bad the state of Maryland repealed it shortly after it was passed …”
The response I’ve given when asked about microstamping, renewable licenses, etc. is to say that if New York wants to do something about crime they ought to require background checks for the state legislature as they are much more likley to commit crimes than pistol license holders. According to last month’s op-ed by Bill Hammond in the Daily News, we’re up to 18 state officials charged since 2003.
“. . . what is the political logic of more anti-business, anti-rights, anti-gun laws . . . ?”
Markie Marxist sez: “Let’s see . . . anti-business . . . anti-rights . . . anti-gun. Yup, that sounds like good old-fashioned, common sense communism to me! Ha! Ha! We Marxists own New York!”