BY ANDY GARDNER

North Country This Week

CANTON – County legislators passed a bill praising the county court judge for offering a removal of pistol permit restrictions.

The motion passed 13-0-1. The abstention was Margaret Haggard, D-Potsdam, who also abstained when the resolution came up at the Finance Committee meeting a week prior.

Haggard said she abstained “for reasons I made clear at the committee meeting.”

The previous week, Haggard said it wasn’t because of any issues related to firearms, and she recognizes that Storie’s decision on pistol permits is within his purview as an elected county judge.

“I don’t believe this kind of resolution is appropriate when we have a separation of powers. I wouldn’t want the judge weighing in on things we do here,” she said. I’m going to abstain. A no might signal in some ways I’m against guns ... I swore to uphold the Constitution. That includes all the amendments.”

Legislator Kevin Acres, R-Madrid, introduced the resolution to the full board and said, “this is the end of what we’ve been trying to achieve since 2015.”

The permit restrictions were placed by former County Court Judge Jerome Richards. Current County Court Judge Greg Storie campaigned on promises to rescind many of those.

Legislator Dave Forsythe, R-Lisbon, said he has a permit with restrictions from ex-Judge Richards, and Judge Storie recently removed them.

“I encourage everyone to take advantage of it, because it worked quite well,” Forsythe said.

County Attorney Steve Button said the county clerk has prepared a form for permit holders to apply to have their restrictions removed. It can be downloaded from the county website and must be prepared and mailed to the clerk’s office, who will forward them to Judge Storie.

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