To the Editor:

In response to the article “Gillibrand joins other Democrats in pushing for gun data collection, tracking” which appeared on North County Now April 2:

Ms. Gillibrand alleges that; “the Gun Records Restoration and Preservation Act would improve law enforcement’s capacity to solve and prosecute gun crimes, stop illegal gun trafficking, and hold negligent gun dealers and owners accountable.”

I disagree. To possess a handgun, one must apply for a New York Pistol permit, and have a thorough background check that takes months to process. A record is kept by the county of every handgun purchased and owned, making this bill is already redundant and unnecessary.

Furthermore, when purchasing a new handgun, a fired shell casing must be provided to the State Police, to supposedly serve as an additional identification for that pistol. In the decades that have passed, and the millions of tax payer’s money spent on this process, not a single crime has been solved by this. This program is nothing but a “feel good” law that wastes the time and money of New York citizens to no real purpose.

When the New York Safe act was passed in 2013, it required the registration of all semi-automatic AR style firearms. Of the estimated one million gun owners who possess these kind of rifles—Please don’t call them “assault rifles, that is a label given by news media to make headlines and by politicians to stir up fear---Only approximately 80,000 did so, demonstrating the resolve of law abiding citizens owning firearms to stand up for their 2nd Amendment right as guaranteed by the Constitution.

I remember when Ms. Gillibrand used to be a moderate Democrat representing the interests of the North Country. Since she went downstate and mentored by Senator Chuck Schumer, she sold us and the rest of the citizens out for political expediency and personal promotion. This law she promotes would only infringe upon the civil rights of honesty and responsible gun owners, and do nothing to prevent or prosecute criminals possessing illegal guns.

Ron Shirtz

Rensselaer Falls