Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
ALBION, NY - An Orleans County gun shop manager is furious. The manager says last week, state police threatened to raid his business if he didn't hand over customer purchase records.
"Plan A was apparently come in here guns blazing, SWAT team, the whole deal," said Joseph Palumbo, who co-owns the Albion Gun Shop.
Last week, Palumbo says he was faced with a decision in the store -- give up customer purchase records to the state police or be raided.
"It was kind of scary. I contacted the family attorney, she said cooperate, hand the records over," Palumbo said.
He tells 2 On Your Side that he came face-to-face with an officer from a state police drug task force, who also happened to be a customer at the store.
After that, Palumbo gave up records of about 170 customers.
Police went to the store to investigate the selling of modified assault weapons that the store believed were compliant with the NY SAFE ACT. But, the weapons were actually in violation of the law.
"We never expected anything like this. We were told the modification we were using was legal, it was okay. We had called New York State Gun hotline and they had accepted this modification as legal," Palumbo said.
This was the issue: Assault weapons can feature what's called a "bullet button." The button, when pressed, allows an ammunition magazine to be removed. But, the law says the magazines shouldn't be removed. So, the store has agreed with the state to put a specific type of epoxy, that will lock the magazine in the rifles.
In a statement, the state police said: "The State Police, in cooperation with the Orleans County District Attorney's Office, will work with the gun store and its customers to come into compliance with the law, as it appears the non-compliance was unintentional."
The Orleans County DA will not press charges against Palumbo or his customers.
Palumbo believes this is an example of how confusing the SAFE ACT is. "This is what happens, when you try to pass a bill at midnight and you give everybody 20 minutes to read the bill," he said.
The Albion Gun Shop remains open for business. However, Palumbo says he fears his sales license could be affected because of this incident.
Many gun rights advocates already believe the SAFE ACT is unconstitutional and infringes on the Second Amendment. Activists plan to rally Monday at the gun shop at 6 p.m., once again calling for the repeal of the Safe ACT and raising concerns about the law.
http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/local/orleans-county/2014/09/05/albion-gun-store-guns/15154043/