Montgomery County Sheriff Jeff Smith says he’s never handled a gun-related crime with a legal firearm owner. For him, the state’s new concealed carry law raises too many questions.
"I just think they’ve gone too far," he said. "They go too far, they go to the extreme and they pass things that don’t even really make sense."
Elected sheriffs in New York are skeptical of the state’s new concealed carry law, questioning whether it will keep people safe and pointing to confusion over its enforcement amid multiple legal challenges.
A Republican first elected in 2018 in a rural county of just under 50,000 people, Smith said his office is yet to make any arrests under the six-week-old law. But there is plenty of confusion from people who are trying to obtain permits or make sure they are following the change in law.
"The amount of questions we receive is really astronomical, whether it be through social media or you run into somebody in public," Smith said. "I can’t go anyplace without someone asking the question about the new law or where we are at."
To help with answer questions and perform basic administration, the sheriff is trying to get more money in his budget to help administration of the law as well.
Concerns over the concealed carry package are not dissimilar from a debate a decade ago when lawmakers and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo approved the SAFE Act, a package of gun laws agreed to in the wake of a Connecticut elementary school shooting.
Then, like now, locally elected law enforcement officers questioned the SAFE Act's efficacy.
The new concealed carry law was approved in July following a Supreme Court ruling that overturned a century-old concealed carry law for New York. The revised law places expanded requirements for obtaining a concealed carry permit and restricts where guns can be carried in public places.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has defended the sweeping measure, as well as new gun laws that increase the age to possess a semiautomatic weapon from 18 to 21, as necessary to keep New Yorker safe.
"We believe that the governor should have the right that was in place for 108 years to protect the people of this state," she said last week.
The law is now being challenged in federal court, and a judge this month agreed to suspend provisions like having prospective license holders submit three years’ worth of social media data and prove they are of good moral character. Hochul said she’s confident the law will be upheld.
New York is appealing the restraining order, with state Attorney General Letitia James arguing the provisions need to be in full force.
"Whether it’s on this or other gun laws, I believe the people of this state deserve to be protected," Hochul said.
Smith, meanwhile, says his office is enforcing the law, but suggested it would not be zealous.
"That police discretion is a very powerful tool because we utilize it everyday, every time we have an incident," he said.
And he’s concerned legal gun owners are being treated unfairly, facing a cumbersome and complicated law that penalizes them.
"We understand trying to pass gun laws, we understand trying to put laws on the books that protect our citizens," he said. "But on the backs of lawful pistol permit holders is not where it’s really at."