Advertisement. Advertise with us

Letter from Dan Butterman

Too Much Gun Violence

Gun violence takes the lives of too many New Yorkers, and it is taking more and more each year. When elected to the Assembly I will work to make our gun laws fairer and more effective. I will not take weapons away from law-abiding citizens, but will work to take them away from criminals. And I will do this with input from gun violence experts – law enforcement professionals.

In 2014, gun-related deaths in the U.S. numbered 33,508, but by 2020 that had risen to 45,055. Nearly every state has experienced an increase. New York rose 26% – almost 200 more people each year by 2020 than in 2014. Something must be done about it. Our state legislature passed several laws focused on guns in 2022. The new laws include limits on where guns can be carried, added background checks for ammunition purchases, mandated annual handgun training, and even required applicants for concealed carry permits to provide character references and social media accounts. Some of these actions were in response to the Supreme Court’s decision eliminating New York’s long-standing concealed carry permit application requirements, and others were in response to the supermarket attack in Buffalo.

I am thankful our legislature is willing to act quickly, but I fear the resultant legislative actions will not have the potent effect on gun violence our legislators envisioned. Good ideas are the product of an inclusive process that considers many possibilities. However, the process of enacting these new gun laws did not include adequate input from law enforcement. The New York Sheriff’s Association said, “If we had been consulted before passage of these laws, we could have helped the legislators […] and the result would have been better, more workable licensing provisions that respect the rights of our law-abiding citizens and punish the lawbreakers.”

I believe that law enforcement and their expertise should be carefully considered when debating new action to address gun violence. The recent set of gun laws passed the Senate along party lines, but in the Assembly, three Democratic members from Central New York voted against them. They expressed concern that the process was rushed. If elected in November, I will carefully work with my colleagues from both parties to address gun violence, and will work specifically on supporting legislation that keeps guns away from domestic abusers and others who have shown a propensity to violence. Finally, I will ensure that we support and include our police agencies, who must do the hard work of enforcing the laws.

Dan Butterman
Oneonta

Posted

4 Comments

  1. Dear Mr. Butterman,
    The man who attacked the Buffalo supermarket came from Pennsylvania where he purchased his guns.
    I have lived in Otsego County for over 22 years and can recall few gun incidents in spite of the widespread gun ownership in the county. If Baltimore had the homicide rate that we have here it would have fewer than ten gun deaths a year instead of over 300.
    Most of gun homicides are with illegally obtained guns. They are very frequently by people who have been previously arrested for gun violations but are released and receive little or no time because of the false issue of “mass incarceration.”
    If you are concerned about the gun violence in other areas, please look at the bail reform laws. If you are concerned about Otsego county, please address more relevant issues.

  2. Dear Mr. Butterman,
    The man who attacked the Buffalo supermarket came from Pennsylvania where he purchased his guns.
    I have lived in Otsego County for over 22 years and can recall few gun incidents in spite of the widespread gun ownership in the county. If Baltimore had the homicide rate that we have here it would have fewer than ten gun deaths a year instead of over 300.
    Most of gun homicides are with illegally obtained guns. They are very frequently by people who have been previously arrested for gun violations but are released and receive little or no time because of the false issue of “mass incarceration.”
    If you are concerned about the gun violence in other areas, please look at the bail reform laws. If you are concerned about Otsego county, please address more relevant issues.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Related Articles

Hawthorn Hill Journal: Of Signs and Democracy

One aspect of this perennial circus that I would like to see done away with is the placing of signs everywhere—lawns, intersections, buildings, cars, etc. My wife has been a bit grumpy with me because I have insisted that we not place a sign at the bottom of our driveway divulging to all the world our preferred candidate.…

New York’s new budget

Gas tax holiday, drinks-to-go a part of New York’s new state budget It appears drivers fueling up in New York will get at least a partial break from the state’s gasoline tax beginning June 1. The gas tax holiday looks like it will be part of a new state budget lawmakers expect to approve beginning later in the evening of April 7. Under the details available Thursday afternoon, it appears the deal will knock 16 cents off the price of a gallon of unleaded or diesel gasoline between June 1 and December 31. The dates would cover the bulk of…

Post: More on the AR-15 Rifle

The AR-15 is a semi-automatic rifle. This simply means that the trigger must be pulled each time a bullet is fired, just like many common hunting rifles. In order to fire 800 rounds a minute, the trigger would need to be pulled 800 times in a minute.…