Hochul Strikes Again by Tom Reynolds
Our friends at GOA-NY sent us a copy of an email from 2A Attorney Paloma Capanna which should be of interest to all New York gun owners.
The New York State Police held a call to discuss the changes that will impact retailers across the state as New York transitions to being a ‘point of contact state’; that is, the state police will be the initial contact/ clearing house for all background checks for firearms and ammunition. The FBI will stop all connections with Federal Firearms Licensees in New York State once the NYS Police becomes the Point of Contact.
All NYS Firearms and Ammunition Dealers can start to register under the new system beginning on August 16th, even though they are already registered as a Federal Firearms Licensee. Each user (administrators and store employees) will need an NY.gov business account.
The targeted date for the NYS Police to take over processing NICS applications is Wednesday, September 13th.
The new background check fee for firearms will be $9 and for ammunition will be $2.50; they will begin on that date.
The state police will be the intermediary for all firearms transactions as background checks will go to NYSP and NYSP will, then, contact NICS. NICS checks are free so, to use a Mafia phrase, NY State gets to ‘wet its beak’ into an otherwise free transaction.
The anti-2A New York bureaucracy is inserting itself into a proven process. There was no concrete information given concerning how the new system will function, recourse for when it fails, an appeals process or the inevitable delays retailers will experience.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well, for instance…
The state police said that there could be situations where someone could pass a background check for a firearm but fail for the ammunition. (Their explanation was that for ammunition they might check more records in state.) Welcome to New York’s bureaucratic world.
Live operators will only be available to help with technical assistance, they will not have the ability to enter NICS applications on behalf of the business. So much for customer service!
For those of us who live close to the Pennsylvania border, it would probably not be financially worthwhile to make a special trip in order to buy ammo, gas price being what it is. Unless for spite. But if we happen to be in Pennsylvania…it’s just another jolt to New York’s staggering economy.
Did anyone in Hochul’s ‘brain trust’ figure out that if one fails the ammo test, it becomes a short road trip to PA in order to get around this restriction? Remember what happened when there were ‘dry counties’ in New York? (At least drivers buying ammo will be sober.)
An important reminder: NY’s Income tax form IT-201 line 59 (Sales and Use Tax). If you buy an item in another state that would be taxable in New York and bring it across state lines, you need to pay NY Sales and Use tax on it. (SCOPE is just being a good citizen in reminding you of this even though we are sure no SCOPE members would ever dream of shorting NY State on this!)
