"Is Gun Club Membership Required?"
	A Legislator's Question to SAFE
December 20, 2002 Mr. John Cushman President Sportsmen's Association for Firearm Education P. O. Box 343 Commack, New York 11725 Re: Required Membership to Gun Clubs Dear Mr. Cushman:
I am writing for your thoughts on a proposal suggested to me recently by a constituent (who owns firearms and often competes in pistol competitions). He stated that either Suffolk County or New York State had a law requiring anyone who wished to obtain a pistol permit to join a gun club with a facility to shoot. He believes the intent was to ensure that those with pistol permits were aware of the proper way to handle and store a firearm. His reasoning is that a club or range would not allow a person to shoot without first receiving a lesson or training in gun safety. The constituent's concern is that there is an ever-growing number of pistol permit holders in Suffolk County, and he believes that many of them are not educated in gun safety, which can lead to tragic accidents. He would like me to attempt to reenact the law.
It would be greatly appreciated if you could provide me with some insight and your opinion regarding this proposal. Would it be more appropriate to simply require those who apply for a permit to take a gun safety course, similar to the New York state requirement for potential drivers to take a safety course? I look forward to hearing from you on this topic. Sincerely, Ginny Fields Suffolk County Legislator GF:rc
	SAFE's Response
January 5th, 2003 Legislator Ginny Fields 1227 B Montauk Highway Oakdale, NY 11769 1-631-854-4909 Re: Required Membership to Gun Clubs Dear Legislator Fields,
I am writing in response to your letter that raises the past practice of required belonging to a gun club for anyone who wishes to obtain a pistol license by one of your constituents. Almost 20 years ago it was in fact a practice in Suffolk, Nassau and New York City that anyone who wanted a handgun license had to be a member of a gun club or a member of a range. It was a procedural policy adopted internally by the issuing agents in all three jurisdictions, but it was never a law. Neither the County nor the local police departments may make such a law.
Only the New York State Legislature has the power to make additional requirements in law for handgun licensing. Additionally, the policy of requiring club membership by issuing agents proved to be totally useless and expensive for the county to maintain records that proved to be of no value. The reason is; to be a member of a club as then required simply meant to pay ones dues to the club and then get a letter that said you were a member in good standing of that club, thus satisfying the requirement. It did nothing but create an additional financial burden on the pistol license applicant. It also required the county to maintain an expensive and tremendous volume of papers that in reality meant nothing within the pistol licensing process. While a few genuine shooting clubs benefited from this requirement by increasing their memberships it also inadvertently created an abundance of paper gun clubs, clubs that did not really exist, except on paper only, so as to meet the unnecessary requirements of the issuing agents. These are the reasons all three jurisdictions discontinued this useless practice many years ago.
Your constituent says he believes the intent of the requirement was to ensure pistol licensees would handle their firearms safely. Unfortunately that was not the real reason at the time it was instituted, but it was the claimed reason for instituting this requirement. It was public knowledge at the time that the real purpose of the requirement was to create another obstacle or hurdle for anyone attempting to acquire a handgun license. There were a few high-ranking police officials who were rabidly anti gun and did not want anyone to have the right to acquire one. This is one of the main reasons we are generally opposed to giving certain bureaucrats discretionary powers without incorporating safeguards in law to prevent abuse.
Additionally, at the time this rule was arbitrarily put into effect by the then issuing agent (there was no public input or hearings of any kind) there were in fact only a couple of private gun club ranges in existence and the majority of these are on the East end of Suffolk County. As I said earlier, a person merely had to pay his/her dues to a gun club in order to be a member in good standing according to New York State Law and no gun club was required to provide training of any type nor could they be required to do so. One of the reasons for this is a legal opinion handed down by the New York State Attorney General in September 1974 wherein it states; "The County of Suffolk is not authorized to enact a local law requiring a applicant for a pistol license to satisfactorily complete a weapon safety course prior to the issuance of such license, nor does the licensing official who issues such license have the authority to institute a rule or regulation requiring the completion of such a safety course prior to its issuance."
While it is admirable that your constituent is concerned about the lack of proper education regarding gun safety, it is a completely unfounded concern. The facts do not support such a concern. The record clearly indicates there has never been a gun safety problem in at least the past 20 years plus in Suffolk County. On the contrary, the current 30,000 plus licensed handgun owners in Suffolk are the safest and most conscientious group of law-abiding people of any type in the county. They are in fact the most law-abiding group of people anywhere in the state.
In effect, only the State Legislature has the power to pass a statewide standard of safety training prior to the issuance of a handgun license. It is our position that if it does consider this type of legislation, it must incorporate all the points listed in the enclosed document. To leave out any one or more of the points listed and we would be opposed to any training bill. Let me make it clear, we are not opposed to firearms SAFETY training. We are opposed to any firearms mandatory training requirement that does not contain the necessary safeguards, as spelled out in SAFE'S POSITION ON MANDATORY TRAINING, against bureaucratic abuse and they must be incorporated at the same time the law is amended. That is the only way we as lawful citizens can be assured of being treated fairly and uniformly statewide.
I hope I have shed some light on your inquiry and those of your constituent while at the same time illustrating our very real concerns. Should you need anything further please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely, John L. Cushman President
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