June/July 2026 SCOPE President Report

    June and July 2026 were an exceptionally busy time for the Shooter’s Committee on Political Education (SCOPE). The main effort focused on chapter visits, attending fundraising events, and planning and developing SCOPE’s Get Out the Vote (GOTV) initiative to influence the November gubernatorial election by getting more people, whether they are gun owners or not, out to vote.

    Chapter Visits: During this period, visits were made to the Alleghany, Cattaraugus, Monroe, and Jefferson–Lewis County chapters. Attendance ranged from 15 to 50 participants, and each meeting included guest speakers, including candidates for various local offices. The SCOPE President delivered a briefing on the GOTV initiative, outlining each chapter’s roles and responsibilities in advancing the effort.

     Fundraising events (Fairs and Weekend Festivals): Fund raising activities are in full motion during June and July, allowing SCOPE chapters to raise money to fund lawsuits, high school shooting sports teams and the GOTV initiative. The 209th Jefferson County Fair took place July 14–19, 2026, at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, followed by the Lewis County Fair from July 21–25, 2026. The Jefferson/Lewis County Chapter of SCOPE staffed tables at both events, hosting a gun raffle through a plinko game and informing attendees about SCOPE’s Top Ten Most Egregious Firearms Legislation. The chapter also encouraged fairgoers to begin considering the upcoming gubernatorial election on November 3, 2026.

    GOTV Initiative: GOTV planning is ongoing. SCOPE has contracted with Multimedia Services (MMS), a digital firm based in Chemung County, to provide graphic design and social media support for GOTV outreach. Their work includes developing a microsite, poster, trifold, and banner to promote voter participation. The contract runs through November 3, 2026.

    Steve Leonard, SCOPE’s Marketing and Communications Director, meets weekly with MMS to oversee progress. Hard‑copy materials will be distributed to county chapter chairmen in early August, and the microsite is expected to be operational soon. When available, SCOPE Chapter County Chairpersons should identify FFLs with the greatest impact and distribute GOTV hard copies to them. 

    Banquet: Planning for Saturday, September 26, 2026, SCOPE banquet continues. Two guest speakers have confirmed: on June 20, 2026, Joseph Hernandez, candidate for New York State Comptroller, confirmed at a Yates County GOP reception that he will be one of the speakers; several weeks later, Saritha Komatireddy, candidate for New York State Attorney General, also agreed to attend and speak. Their participation will complete speaker commitments from candidates for New York’s four top statewide offices; in April, Bruce Blakeman (Governor) and his running mate Todd Hood (Lieutenant Governor) spoke at the SCOPE All-Members meeting. The master of ceremony will be Mr. Bob Lonsberry. 

    As the banquet is a significant part of the SCOPE Corporation to fundraise, coordination with SCOPE chapters is on-going to sell advertisements for the banquet program.  Advertisements sales sheets were distributed to all the chapters.  Advertisements will be placed in the banquet program, as well as on the SCOPE website from September through December 2026.  All advertisements should be submitted to the SCOPE administrator no later than Friday August 21, 2026.  Furthermore, the cost to attend the banquet remains $65 a person. I hope to see you there.

    SCOPE Board Meetings: SCOPE traditionally holds quarterly board meetings; however, due to the importance of GOTV planning and execution, the board agreed to meet monthly through October 2026. As part of this schedule, board meetings were held on June 18, 2026, and July 16, 2026, with the primary focus on reviewing the status of GOTV activities.

    SCOPE/NYSRPA Meeting:  On May 28, 2026, SCOPE Chairman Jack Prendergast and I held our first meeting with Tom King, President of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA), to discuss whether NYSRPA was interested in partnering with SCOPE on Get Out the Vote efforts for the November election. A follow‑up meeting was conducted on June 24, 2026, in Waterloo, New York, during which NYSRPA agreed to collaborate with SCOPE on the initiative. A third meeting is scheduled for early August 2026 to finalize the specific details of how both organizations will work together to support GOTV activities.

    Yard Signs: The Yates County Chapter of SCOPE, led by Mary Anne Walton, proposed using yard signs to encourage gun owners to vote. The chapter designed a sign that interested SCOPE chapters could purchase, and a call went out to gauge county‑level interest. Most county chapters opted to buy varying quantities for distribution within their communities. A total of 100 signs were distributed across Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties.

    Poughkeepsie Meeting: On June 20, 2026, SCOPE Treasurer Tom Reynolds and I traveled to Poughkeepsie, New York, to attend the Dutchess County Conservation Council meeting. New York State Conservation Council Federation meetings include liaison officers from the county’s gun clubs, who receive updates on NYSCC efforts and relay that information back to their organizations.

    The purpose of the SCOPE President’s visit was to brief Federation members on SCOPE’s mission and priorities, encourage membership growth, and assess interest in establishing a SCOPE chapter in Dutchess County. Following the meeting, several members approached me expressing interest in forming a Dutchess County chapter.

    Gun Raffle: The quarterly gun raffle was conducted on July 10, 2026.   The next gun raffle is scheduled for Friday October 9, 2026. 

   2027 All Members Meeting Planning: Planning has begun for the 2027 SCOPE All‑Members Meeting, which is scheduled for Saturday, April 17, 2027, at the Moose Lodge in Montour Falls, New York. Potential guest speakers are currently under consideration as preparations move forward.

    In summary, June and July were marked by sustained engagement, expanded outreach, and steady progress across SCOPE’s organizational, chapter‑level, and GOTV efforts. From county fair participation and chapter visits to new partnerships, increased communication, and the development of targeted GOTV materials, SCOPE strengthened its presence and sharpened its focus during this period. These activities collectively position the organization for an effective and coordinated push toward November, ensuring members, supporters, and gun owners across New York State remain informed, motivated, and prepared to vote.

SAFE and CCIA  by Bo Rabarsky

Feeling frustrated by New York State gun laws?  Here’s short refresher on why your 2nd Amendment rights are in danger and why you are feeling frustrated. 

NEW YORK SAFE ACT 2022 REGULATIONS*

Firearm Restrictions and Bans

Assault weapons: Prohibits semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns featuring even one designated military-style characteristic (such as a pistol grip, folding stock, or threaded barrel).

Magazine capacity: Limits ammunition feeding devices to a maximum capacity of 10 rounds.

Recertification: Requires pistol permit and revolver license holders to recertify their status with the New York State Police every five years.  (Later changed to 3 years.)

Background Checks and Sales

Universal checks: Mandates background checks for virtually all gun transfers, including private sales between individuals, processed via licensed dealers.

Ammunition rules: Requires commercial ammunition sales to be conducted in-person through a registered seller or licensed dealer who maintains direct transaction records.

Mental Health Reporting (MHL 9.46)

Mandatory reporting: Requires mental health clinicians (physicians, psychologists, registered nurses, and licensed social workers) to report patients deemed likely to cause serious harm to self or others.

Database checks: Temporarily flags individual records in a state system to prevent disqualified persons from acquiring or retaining a firearm license.

* New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act | The Office of NICS Hospital Admission Relief Process

NEW YORK CONCEAL CARRY IMPROVEMENT ACT 2025**

Training and Permit Requirements

Coursework: Mandatory 18-hour training split into 16 hours of classroom instruction and 2 hours of live-fire range training.

References & Character: Requires four character references and an in-person interview with the local licensing officer and evaluate "good moral character".

Disqualifications: Broadened criteria for disqualification including specific misdemeanor convictions and background reviews. (Note: Initial requirements to hand over social media account histories were blocked in court as unconstitutional).

Location Restrictions and Private Property

Sensitive Places: Firearm possession is broadly prohibited in designated sensitive areas like schools, government buildings, places of worship, and healthcare facilities.

Private Property Default: Carrying a concealed weapon is illegal on private property or business premises unless the owner explicitly opts in by posting clear, conspicuous signage or giving direct verbal consent.

Background Checks

Background checks: New York State background check on firearm purchases plus a $9 fee.

New York State background check on ammunition purchases plus a $2.50 fee.

Ammunition: Mandatory background checks apply to all ammunition purchases managed through state-oversight channels.

Safe Storage and Vehicles

Vehicle Storage: Unattended firearms left inside a vehicle must be unloaded and locked inside a fire, impact, and tamper-resistant storage safe or lockbox hidden from view (glove compartments do not qualify).

Firearm Restrictions and Bans

Recertification: Requires pistol permit and revolver license holders to recertify their status with the New York State Police every three years.

Semi-Auto License: In order to purchase a semi-automatic rifle a New York State semi-auto permit is required.

Legal Status

Appeals and Rulings: Following various federal legal challenges, a 2024 U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision largely allowed the state to enforce core components of the CCIA—including sensitive location boundaries and private property restrictions—while legal battles continue.

However, Courts in other circuits have ruled that restrictions that are similar to those in CCIA are unconstitutional

** Frequently Asked Questions: New Concealed Carry Law | Gun Safety

Doesn’t this make you want to vote everyone behind these laws out of office?

Snipers  by Tom Reynolds

Want to feel inadequate?  Most shooters would feel good about hitting a bullseye at 200 yards.  Here are some stories to make you feel inadequate.

In 2017, in Iraq, a Canadian sniper eliminated a target at 2.14 miles (3,540 meters).  This is the record distance for snipers.  Which means it’s probably the record distance for everyone else. 

The shooter was using a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle and was firing from a tall building.  The rifle was a 50 caliber, bolt action, 26 pound rifle with a 5 round magazine.  If you want to buy it, bring at least $10,000.

In addition to the usual forces to be considered – like gravity, wind, elevation, relative humidity, etc. - the sniper had to take into consideration the Coriolis Effect; that is, the spin of the earth, since the shot took almost 10 seconds to hit the target.

Think about that for a second.  Say bang and count off 10 seconds.  That’s a long time for a bullet to be in the air.  Lots can happen in 10 seconds including that a motionless target is not really motionless due to the Earth’s rotation.

The previous record was attained in 2009, in Afghanistan.  The sniper took on a Taliban machine gun crew at 1.5 miles (2,475 meters) and the bullet was in the air for 6 seconds. 

He used an L115A3 .338 Lapua Magnum, which is a .338 caliber, 15 pound rifle holding a 5 round magazine.  It’s a “little” more expensive at $38,000.

The sniper was standing up, not lying prone. Which may explain why he missed on two of the five shots he took.  His first shot missed, but his second shot was on target.  The third shot missed, but the fourth eliminated a second target. A fifth shot took out the machine gun.   

The longest American shot was made in March 2004, in Iraq.  The sniper killed an insurgent from 2,300 meters away.  He reportedly used an M82 SASR .50 caliber rifle which held a 10 round magazine.  

Luck or skill?  Probably a combination of both? Mostly a whole lot of skill. 

But as too luck…

The previous longest American sniper kill was in the Viet Nam War by a Marine sniper at 2,286 meters using a machine gun set to semi-automatic.  The Browning M2 was a .50 caliber weapon that had a longer range that the standard sniper rifle so it was occasionally fitted with a scope by inventive snipers. 

As to luck, USMC Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock reportedly had fired at a specific spot while sighting in his Browning M2 heavy machine-gun.  An enemy soldier stopped his bicycle on the spot Hathcock was aiming at.  Talk about bad luck!

Hathcock was entitled to a little luck since this was one of 93 confirmed kills that he had; which were more skill than luck.

In the heat of battle, controlling adrenaline and breathing after formulating the physics of the shot sounds impossible.  But they did it.

New York or Iran; What’s the Difference?  by Bo Rabarsky

Iran has no constitutional right to bear arms. Iranian citizens generally require government permission to possess firearms.  Military grade weapons are strictly forbidden. In May 2025, longtime Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered even harsher criminal sentences for unlicensed firearm possession and for the use of digital platforms to arrange private sales.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other security forces brutally enforce the regime’s will.  “They’ve hurt their people. They killed 54,000 people as of now, that were protesting” President Trump said, according to a report in The Hill. “They [Iranian citizens] have no guns and the other side has machine guns and they’re killing them.”

Monday July 20th President Donald Trump hinted during an interview that the U.S. may start arming the Iranian people.

Here in New York State, it would seem that the powers-that-be in Albany want to emulate Iran.  Instead of making sure the citizens in NY are armed, the Albany Democrats are focused directly on taking away the 2nd Amendment Rights of law- abiding gun owners. For instance, the SAFE Act of 2013 placed many restrictions on gun owners: limit of 10 rounds in a magazine; pistol permit recertification; and, basically, banned the AR-15, (to name a few.)

After the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision in May 2022, Albany Democrats pushed us further towards Iran by passing the CCIA (Conceal Carry Improvement Act) in July 2022. This placed even more restrictions on legal gun buyers, like a NYS background check which included a $9 fee.  CCIA also added a background check and $2.50 fee on ammo purchases. They are two examples of egregious legislation meant NOT to make us safer but to take away our right to bear arms and make us servants, not citizens.

President Trump’s February 2025 Executive Order declared the Second Amendment an “indispensable safeguard of security and liberty” and directed the federal government to review actions that infringed on the rights of law-abiding Americans. As Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for SCOTUS in Bruen said, “The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not a second-class right.

The easiest way to prevent the left from disarming us is to vote.

The future is decided by those that show up!

H R 1811A Merchant Category Code (MCC) is a four‑digit number assigned by credit card networks (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover) to classify the type of goods or services a merchant sells.

House of Representatives bill H.R. 1181, the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act, prohibits payment card networks and payment processors from assigning a MCC that distinguishes firearms retailers from general merchandise or sporting goods retailers.

Under the Biden administration, left-wing activists sought to pressure credit card companies to create a new MCC for firearm purchases, which would have allowed the Biden administration to easily surveil Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights.

This important bill will prevent credit card companies from creating this specialized MCC which opens the door for further surveillance of law-abiding citizens. This legislation protects Americans’ financial privacy and ensures that firearms businesses are not unfairly singled out by financial institutions.

This bill passed the House by a vote of 221-201.  All New York Republicans voted for the bill and all New York Democrats voted against the bill.

It was referred to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs

Mandatory Liability Insurance  by Tom Reynolds

The following is an email to members in March 2021, dealing with proposed laws to require gun owners to have liability insurance and why those laws are meaningless.  Since those laws are still being proposed, why bother writing it again, I’ll just send an updated version.  References to bills refer to bills in 2021.

 As SCOPE has stressed, the gun grabbers continue both direct and indirect threats to the 2nd Amendment.  They view anything that would potentially destroy 2A, as worth their efforts.  Currently in vogue is a push to require all gun owners to carry mandatory liability insurance. Gun grabbers want to make owning a gun unaffordable for many current and potential gun owners.  Bills have been introduced at both the federal and state level to make this mandatory for all gun owners.  For instance, HR127 would require all gun owners to buy an insurance policy with an $800 annual premium.  (It is unknown how this insurance will be accomplished since some states, like New York, make it difficult to impossible to have gun liability insurance. But, since the $800 premium is a part of the proposed bill, the federal government will undoubtedly be involved.)

The question that is not being asked is: why have liability insurance?  It seems as if that would be easy to answer, since we have insurance for almost everything else.  But, it’s not so easy to answer when we look deeper.

As it is generally understood, liability insurance helps cover the cost of claims when the insured is responsible for bodily injury, property damage, etc.  But for someone to be responsible, they must generally be negligent, among other requirements.  (Legal papers abound on this subject, but for our purposes, we can keep it simple and focus on the insured’s negligence.) 

2017 was a peak year for deaths by shooting with 39,773, per the Center for Disease Control (CDC).  The FBI reported similar numbers.  So, let’s use 2017 CDC’s numbers to better understand the need (or not) for mandatory insurance.

There were 39,773 firearm deaths in 2017.  Of those, 23,854 were by suicide.  Is there any need for liability insurance in a suicide?  Not if the insured is the one committing suicide.  (Dead persons can’t sue themselves for bodily injury.)  The most often time that insurance could come into play is if the suicide used a gun belonging to someone else and that other person negligently allowed the suicide to use the gun.  I’ll bet, in those cases where the gun belonged to someone else, it was a family member.   Are other family members going to sue the family member gun owner?  (Won’t that make family Thanksgiving dinner a little dicey!) 

In summary, there would be very few times when liability insurance would possibly be used in suicides.

There were 14,542 murders in that year.  Historically, 92% to 94% of murders are done with unlawful firearms.  Obviously, unlawful firearm users will not have liability insurance. 

If the remaining  8% of murders were committed by lawful gun owners, that would be 1,163 instances when liability insurance would potentially be in effect.  But wait a minute - insurance policies usually do not cover unlawful acts.  Murders are the very definition of an unlawful act.  So, even if those 1,163 murderers were covered by insurance, the insurance company would not have to pay.  (Murderers would have wasted their premium money.)

553 additional deaths were by Law Enforcement Officers (LEO’s).   They are covered by their department’s (or possibly union’s) insurance so they have no need for mandatory individual liability insurance coverage although some might also take out individual policies. 

Another 824 deaths were unintentional or “other”:  hunting accidents, gun cleaning accidents, personal protection, etc.  Here, there might be a need for liability insurance coverage.

In summary, as to deaths by firearms in 2017, there were 824 unintentional deaths and some small unknown number of suicides where liability insurance would come into play.  Estimates are that there are 80 million to 100 million legal gun owners in the USA.  That’s about 1 in 100,000 gun owners that would have a use for liability insurance.  But that would be $80 billion in insurance premiums. (You are probably wondering what similar numbers are for car drivers and accidents?  240 million drivers have about 6 million accidents: 1 in 40)

Liability insurance would also cover instances where someone was shot but did not die or property was damaged.  The above categories would still be applicable to non deaths:

·Most attempted suicides by firearm are fatal.  Of those few non-fatal suicide attempts, even fewer would involve a borrowed or stolen gun.

·Attempted murders are just as illegal as murders so there would be no insurance coverage.

·Non- fatal shootings by LEO’s would fall under the department’s general insurance policy.

·That leaves unintentional and “other” instances of non-fatal shootings.  Since statistical studies focus on murders, this is an unknown number.  Probably not a big enough number radically effect the 1 in 100,000 ratio. 

What cannot be estimated is the effect on the legal profession of having a big pot of insurance money available.  Will enterprising lawyers attempt some new, unforeseen strategies to raid the insurance pot-of-gold?  (You can bet on it.)  Even without insurance being an issue, we have seen instances where a criminal sues someone for shooting them, even though the criminal was committing a crime at the time of the shooting.   (With a pot of money available, this would certainly increase.)

The proposed bills do not specify the coverage that would be mandated.  The above narrative deals with what is generally called liability insurance.  (The “Swamp” will decide specific coverage after the bill is passed.)  This narrative does not deal with other types of policies that may be currently available, such as Concealed Carry Insurance. But it is almost certain that the mandated coverage would be different from Concealed Carry insurance.

So, the question is: with so little need for liability insurance, why mandate it? And the answer is: to make gun ownership unaffordable to most people.

NY State Leads the Way  by Tom Reynolds

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), back in 2019, effectively prohibited construction of new fossil fuel power plants and the old ones are forbidden to be replaced or upgraded. Governors Cuomo and Hochul proudly point to New York leading the way.

How’s that working for you?

It was hot in the NY City area on July 2nd and 3rd, but not close to a record.

The Institute for Energy Research wrote that on July 2nd and 3rd: “Con Edison shut off electricity to over 5,000 customers in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, leaving residents there without air conditioning...Con Edison had decided the N.Y. grid could not handle the load, saying the shutoffs were necessary to reduce strain on the grid, protect equipment, and speed up restoration. The company also cut voltage by 8% in areas of the city as a precaution to protect equipment and keep service running while crews worked.”  (Emphasis added)

A Southern Westchester County resident, (just north of the Bronx) emailed this: “Over the weekend of July 3-5, [t]here were numerous power surges associated with the rolling blackouts where the lights went on and off several times before going out. . . .  Those surges destroyed a bunch of equipment in my home despite having surge suppressors on the equipment. . . There is thousands of dollars in damages related to the surges.  Based upon the Facebook Page MOPS (Mothers of Pelham), my home was not the only one impacted as many people are complaining about electronic equipment not working after the blackouts, notably air conditioners. . . . My home is going to need about $3000 worth of new battery backups.”  

Did the ‘paper of record’, the NY times find any of this newsworthy?  Apparently not; while reporting on the heat wave, one sentence in the 6th paragraph of a July 3rd article mentioned: “The heat also put stress on power grids, contributing to scattered outages in New Jersey, New York and Ohio for tens of thousands of utility customers on Thursday...” 

But…we need to reduce fossil fuel usage and rely on solar and wind generated electricity to save the environment.

So, to protect NY State’s environmental leadership reputation, you probably didn’t hear about this: According to Westchester County officials: 

• At 9 p.m. on July 2, Con Edison reduced the power being funneled to the plant by 8% due to an extreme regional heatwave, resulting in a power failure at the facility. 

• As the on-site generators require a complete outage — not just a reduction — to activate, power could not be transferred from the generators to the equipment.

• At 11 a.m. on July 3, the plant managed to restore power to its primary treatment system. However, when power was distributed to get the second treatment system up and running, all power in the plant was lost.

While power was out, sewage seeped into the Hudson for 17 hours, according to a state alert system.  Oops!

Three months earlier, on April 2nd, lohud.com happily reported: “Some fish caught in the Lower Hudson River are now safe to eat, the state Health Department declared this week, relaxing a 50-year-old advisory meant to limit exposure to cancer-causing PCBs.” (Emphasis added)

So, every 50 years there is a three months window to catch some fish in the lower Hudson River. 

Yep.  New York State is putting its best government minds to work saving the environment and will continue to do so until things get so bad that those who sit back and let this happen, by not voting, will finally have had enough.  But will it be too late? 

Do you like having electricity?  Think of voting as keeping your refrigerator running. 

To the SCOPE Membership,

In a major victory to those seeking to rid America of bans on so-called "assault weapons," for the first time ever, a federal appeals court has ruled that a state's ban on AR-15s and similar rifles, and its ban on "high capacity" magazines, violate the Second Amendment.  

The third circuit court of appeals (Pennsylvania and Delaware) creates a direct circuit split, the term used to describe a situation where two or more federal courts hand down different interpretations of the same legal controversy, which make it ripe for U.S. Supreme court review.  The third circuit court of appeals vote was 10-5 margin.  The majority opinion was written by a Biden-appointed judge, Arianna Freeman.  The dissenting opinion was also given by a Biden-appointed judge, Patty Schwartz.  

Obviously, the New Jersey Governor, Mikie Sherrill condemned the ruling stating, "Today's decision is dangerous, wrong, and make no mistake, it will make New Jersey communities less safe.... This decision is not only legally wrong, it's completely out of step with parents and the people of the Garden State....We will not back down from extreme, right-wing attempts to weaken the laws of New Jersey."  

The majority decision also rejected the ban over the "common use" standard that was created by the Supreme Court decision in the 2008 Heller decision.  The court found no historical roots with which to justify the ban on AR-15 and similar rifles.  

There is hope.  Keep up the fight!  The 2A community is making progress.  The Supreme Court already agreed to hear an appeal of rulings that upheld an "assault ban" imposed by Connecticut and by Cook County, where Chicago is located.  The question posed there is "Whether the Second and 14th Amendments guarantee the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semi-automatic rifles." 

John R. Elwood
SCOPE President

Not Coming for My Gun  by Tom Reynolds

Many gun owners don’t vote because, “They’re not coming after my gun.”  Well, NY State just hit them with a two-by-four to convince these non-voters that Kathy Hochul and the NYS legislature ARE coming after their gun…and sooner rather than later.  They are banning one of the most popular pistols in America, the Glock.

Governor Hochul has signed the FY 2027 NY State budget.  Included in this bill is a new legal category called a “convertible pistol.” Which is defined as a semi-automatic pistol with a cruciform trigger bar* and that pistol can be readily altered by hand or common household tools to accept a pistol converter and function as a machine gun.  That’s a Glock pistol and so this is known as a ‘Glock Ban.’

After May 28, 2027, NYS dealers and gunsmiths cannot sell, transfer, dispose of, transport, or ship a Glock.

By the way, under existing federal law, possession of machine-gun conversion devices is already a federal crime — even if the device is not installed. 

You can be sure that criminals will be throwing away their already illegal ‘pistol converters’ now that they are illegal in NYS. 

In their generosity, Hochul and the legislature will let you keep your Glock if you lawfully owned it before that date.  But you better confirm it is properly listed on your pistol license and keep documentation showing lawful ownership and the acquisition date.  And watch for guidance from the NY State Police (Remember when they shortened the licensing period from five to three years and didn’t really mention it.)  And good luck if you try to sell, transfer, consign or dispose of it.

There will probably be a run on buying Glocks between now and then, which means the training, paperwork, notarizations, character references, fingerprinting, licensing interviews, judicial reviews, and purchase authorization required by the pistol permitting bureaucracy will be slower than normal, especially in Democrat run areas.  Better start now!

Had enough of NY’s anti-gun politicians.  Don’t think of moving to California, Maryland or Connecticut because they also have Glock bans.  And Minnesota is considering a ban.  New Jersey is in the process of putting a registry together on people who have bought Glocks since the beginning of 2016 and is suing Glock for manufacturing Glocks, so can they be far behind?

Do you have a shotgun?  You might someday saw off part of the barrel and make it an illegal sawed off shotgun.  But Kathy Hochul and her Democrat colleagues would never dream of making that widely owned gun illegal just because you might someday make it into an illegal gun.

By the way, research by the Crime Prevention Research Center showed that murders with illegally-modified Glocks are less frequent than fatal lightning strikes; only 40 people died in attacks using the handguns since the start of 2021, while the National Weather Service confirmed 81 deaths from lightning strikes in the same time frame.**

Not coming after your gun?  The leaders of the Democrat Party are committed to removing all firearms from civilian hands.

* A cross-shaped component that links the trigger and firing pin

** UPDATED: How many people have been murdered with Glock-style guns using Glock switches? About 43 total over the five plus years from 2021 to now? - Crime Prevention Research Center

More on Mamdani Extremism  by Tom Reynolds

In Monday’s email I spoke about the extremists endorsed by NY City Mayor Mamdani and what could happen, both good and bad.  A SCOPE member responded, saying it better than I, so I am reproducing his comments, below.

The time to take these people on is NOW.  That means taking them 100% seriously, at their word. They are grimly, unalterably, determined to settle for nothing less than their totalitarian rule so that they can dictate everything in our public and formerly private lives. They are utterly amoral and have long since adopted the credo "by any means necessary".  They see any form of compromise or accommodation (or "oh it can't happen here") from us as weakness to be exploited ruthlessly. 

In WWII we took on two countries which had the same intentions toward us. To prevent them from subjugating us we had to pull out all the stops and play complete hardball with them. Once we had smashed them, then it was time to take the high road. 

Do we have to wait until these people gain the strength to actually accomplish what they promise: the "fundamental transformation" of America? We don't need or want that kind of change but they WILL force it on us if we allow it. We can stop them now but if we don't resolve to do so now, a point may be reached where their takeover becomes inevitable. It’s probably closer than most Americans think. Only a few years ago, could we have imagined the DSA acquiring the power it now has?!

Jew hatred has always been routine for Marxists in power and the ever more open antisemitism asserted by the "American" far left is an unmistakable indicator of the truth that these people are the same who savaged Russia, China, Cambodia and many other luckless countries who only realized their terrible misfortune when it was too late.

We who are already active in protecting our Constitutional rights DO realize it now, while there is still time to defeat it. But so many Americans are busy living positive and constructive lives and have not been motivated yet to pay full attention to the fearful danger we face from within our very country to EVERYTHING we cherish and value. Our continuing job in organizations like Scope is to help them to understand just what it is we face and to demonstrate how to stand up to the America haters.