Westchester County

Leftist politicians like Kamala Harris and Joe Biden continually say they are not going to take away your guns.  But what happens when they have control of the government and we can’t legally stop them?

On September 15, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill (S4879) allowing Westchester County to change its handgun and semi-automatic rifle licensing fees.

Outside of the counties that make up NY City, Westchester County has the largest Democrat majority of any county in New York State; there are 284 thousand more registered Democrats than Republicans. 

This imbalance is reflected in the Westchester County Board of Legislators which has seventeen (17) legislators: one (1) is Republican and one (1) is Conservative and fifteen (15) Democrats.

Currently, the fee for an application or renewal for a pistol or semi-automatic rifle license in Westchester County is $10. Westchester County is looking to raise the cost of the license to $175!   

The proposed fee to amend a restriction on a license will increase from $3 to $125.

Any other amendments will go up from $3 to $25.

Westchester says the increase will pay the salaries of various county employees, but they are not adding new employees to administer this increase.  The county’s current budget already covers the wages for the existing workers.   

Critics of the increase point out that no other county fees are increasing, just pistol and semi-automatic rifle license fees. The critics allege that the new fees are nothing more than a “poll tax” on the constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.  (Ya think!)

Only two legislators, Margaret Cunzio (C) and James Nolan (R), have vowed to vote “no” on the proposal. The 15 Democrat legislators have not stated how they will vote.

To all those gun owners, and especially to hunters, who don’t want to get involved or vote because they believe the Democrats are not coming for their guns…guess what?