CAPITAL DISTRICT Chapter

The Capital District Scope Newsletter:

COMMENTARY:

The state legislative session ends June 10th.  They are going to try to ram through some more gun control.  NOW is the time to contact your Assemblymen and State Senator and urge them to vote NO on any gun control that comes up before the end of the session.  The Senate has already passed at least three anti-gun bills and the Assembly is poised to vote on matching Bills for them.

This is what I do: I put my Assemblyman and Senator's email address in my contact section on my phone.  Then I send off an email when I hear about a Bill.  Sometimes I call them, my Assemblyman's chief of staff is easy to talk to.  Ask your husband, wife, or other, if they can send an email too.

STATE SCOPE RELATED NEWS:

You all probably have heard we are having a SCOPE banquet October 16th with guest speaker Oliver North, and a tour of the Remington plant.

Six Capital District Felons get Gun Charges Bumped up to Federal Court:  Three cheers for not having the local and state prosecutors drop the gun charges on CRIMINALS and bumping the charges up to federal court.   Also acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon seems happy to pursue it.  If you have more information on how this works, email or call me, I want to learn more about it.  More here: https://www.news10.com/news/6-indicted-on-federal-firearms-charges/

Rensselaer County Conservation Alliance pays tribute to two Toms
Wyantskill, NY – The Rensselaer County Conservation Alliance has honored Tom Agar, of Wyantskill, with the organization’s President’s Award, and Tom Carroll, of Averill Park, with the group’s Conservationist of the Year Award.
Agar has been a member of the Adirondack Woodsmen and the RCCA since the early 1970s.  The award announcement said the Alliance’s current vice president has worked tirelessly for his club, the RCCA, and most importantly the sportsmen and sportswomen of Rensselaer County.
“Tom has been involved on the RCCA for decades”, RCCA President Frank Dingman said.  “He used to raise walleyes, and was in charge of stocking them in the county.  He helped out with trout stocking and management.  The DEC (summer) camps, for years he’s been in charge of that, and getting it coordinated.”
Agar served as the chairman of the RCCA’s walleye program for many years.  Along with his summer camp program efforts, he’s also worked with the county’s youth teaching the building if wood duck and bat houses.
Agar is considered the driving force behind the local National Hunting and Fishing Day events, and the Frear Park Kids Fishing Derby in Troy.  Since the 1990s he has been a staple at the organization’s ammual county fair display.  He has been the Region 4 representative with the New York State Conservation Council for over 15 years and has served as vice president for over 10 years.
Agar is also involved in the hunter and bow education program and has taught NRA and state pistol training courses.  He is now the main line to the New York legislative process, keeping members informed of the changes and updates in both the legislature and the Department of Environmental Conservation.
“Tom’s been involved in so much that you just can’t say enough about him.”  Dingman said.  “I could not without him.  I really couldn’t.”
Carroll, the recipient of the organization’s Conservationist pf the Year Award, ha been a member of the Home-Waters Chapter  586 of Trout Unlimited for three years and is the RCCA’s conservation chairman.
The RCCA said Carroll has worked tirelessly with the New York State Council of Trout Unlimited, DEC, and the Alliance to improve and repair the region’s cold water fisheries throughout the county.
Meanwhile, the Rensselaer County legislature intends to opt-in on allowing 12 and 13 year olds to hunt deer with a rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader, and crossbow.
The Alliance remains concerned that those, who took the online hunter education course, did not experience “hands-on” firearms handling instruction.
The group is now discussing the idea of offering a two-hour, in-person firearms safety training session to individuals who take on online hunter education class.

CAPITAL DISTRICT MAYORS URGE LAWMAKERS TO PASS MORE GUN CONTROL LAWS
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy, Troy Mayor Patrick Madden, and Glens Falls Mayor Dan Hall (and others), sent a joint letter Tuesday calling for the the state legislature to pass gun control bills introduced by Assemblymember Patricia Fahy and Senator Zellnor Myrie.  One of the bills attempts to circumvent federal law and attempts to remove immunity from frivolous lawsuits against the gun manufacturers as part of the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.  If you live in Albany, Schenectady, Troy or Glens Falls, it is time to call your Mayor and ask them the fix their poor policies that promote crime and violence against their citizens. Ask them to pressure their district attorney not to drop any gun charges against a criminal when a gun is used in a crime and forward those charges to federal court where the sentences are higher.

Hudson Man Gets 8 Years For Role In Gun Store Burglary: Austin Suarez, age 26, of Hudson, New York, was sentenced today to 100 months in prison for aiding and abetting the theft of firearms from Zero Tolerance Manufacturing, a federally licensed firearms dealer in Ghent, New York.  https://www.shorenewsnetwork.com/2021/05/14/hudson-man-gets-8-years-for-role-in-gun-store-burglary/

Columbia County supervisors unanimously passed a local law allowing 12 and 14 year olds to hunt deer with a firearm or crossbow.  https://www.hudsonvalley360.com/news/columbiacounty/supervisors-pass-youth-hunting-law/article_7e3c42f4-ceb8-5b23-97fe-7d6563daeaad.html

Ex-soldier sentenced for carrying 'ghost gun' at Troy Black Lives Matter rally
Noah Latham sentenced to five years of post-release supervision for carrying weapon https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Ex-soldier-sentenced-for-carrying-ghost-gun-at-16201759.php