BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

Confusion abounds as Adirondack State Park residents are wondering if they are now felons for simply possessing firearms in their homes or on state land after a provision was added in the just-passed state gun law that designates parks as “sensitive locations” and off limits for firearms.

State Democrats say such concerns are simply fear mongering, but several of St. Lawrence County’s state representatives disagree.

New York lawmakers recently passed additional gun control measures, following the Supreme Court ruling in favor of the New York Rifle and Pistol Association. The court’s decision rendered a 109-year-old concealed carry law unconstitutional, leading state lawmakers to quickly pass the “Concealed Carry Improvement Act.”

“The concealed carry legislation that was passed yesterday was highly flawed and is harmful to many legal gun owners who reside in the Adirondacks and North Country. It’s deeply concerning that simply possessing a gun in the Adirondack Park is now considered illegal,” Assemblyman Billy Jones posted on Facebook on July 2.

Jone represents the most eastern portion of St. Lawrence county, including North Lawrence, east of Parishville and down to Childwold.

Critics of the law say it was hastily written like the SAFE Act in 2012 and is nothing more than a knee jerk response that has done nothing to deter criminals from purchasing firearms illegally.

State Senator Dan Stec, who represents southeastern St. Lawrence County as well as Franklin, Clinton, Essex and Warren counties, also claimed that the 130,000 people living on the six million acres that comprise the Adirondack Park lands are at risk for felony charges for merely owning a shotgun or rifle.

Governor Kathy Hochul, however, has refuted the claim that residents in the Adirondack State Park are now considered felons.

According to a 7 News report, a spokesperson for Hochul said the law “changes nothing for lawful gun owners on both Forest Preserve and private lands within the blue line of the Adirondacks.”

The unnamed spokesperson also claimed “The bill language does not specifically reference the Forest Preserve, which is distinguished both in statute and the state constitution from all other public parks in New York state,” according to the report.

“These areas are not considered ‘sensitive locations’ under the law, however there will be sensitive locations within these areas, like playgrounds and hospitals, consistent with locations outlined in the law for every other part of the state,” the spokesman continued.

North Country This Week found no mention of forest preserves listed in the bill and no distinguishing language that would separate forest preserves from public parks.

Article XIV, Section 1 of the New York constitution does mention forest preserves at length, including rules and regulations surrounding the use of such lands. The most recent revision found online is from Jan. 1, 2022, pre-dating the new regulations in place.

No specific mentions of firearms, rifles or shotguns are present in the current version of the state constitution.

Language from the new laws also has led to some confusion, with St. Lawrence County’s state representatives say the language is all encompassing, ambiguous and all together rushed and poorly written.

An amendment to the penal law § 4 has been added with section 265.01-e and now reads,

“A person is guilty of criminal possession of a firearm, rifle or shotgun in a sensitive location when such person possesses a firearm, rifle or shotgun in or upon a sensitive location, and such person knows or reasonably should know such location is a sensitive location.”

Under the new law, public parks are listed as a “sensitive location.”

However, later in the bill it also states under section I that the previous section shall not apply to “Persons lawfully engaged in hunting activity, including hunter education training; or persons operating a program in a sensitive location out of their residence, as defined by this section, which is licensed, certified, authorized, or funded by the state or a municipality, so long as such possession is in compliance with any rules or regulations applicable to the operation of such program and use or storage of firearms.”

No mention is made in the section about the use of handguns or the ability of a concealed carry license holder to possess a handgun in a state park or specifically a forest preserve.

Under § 265.01-D, which regulates the law of criminal possession of a weapon in a restricted location, a mention is also made stating the section does not apply to “Persons lawfully engaged in hunting activity.”

Criminal possession of a weapon in a restricted area is now considered a class E Felony under the new law.

Officials are likely to amend the language to better clarify where and when an individual can exercise their right to conceal carry in state parks and in forest preserves.

A number of gun rights groups, including the Firearms Policy Coalition and National Rifle Association are also planning to take legal action against the governor and the new legislation.