ALDEN, N.Y. — As Dean Adamski of DD's Ranch Gun Store in Alden puts it, "Every dealer knows the same thing; they don't know what's going on."
That frustration for gun dealers like Adamski who "unofficially" know the state is making changes as part of the 2022 Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which the Hochul Administration used to respond to the Supreme Court rejection of its original law.
As of Sept. 13, there will now be a background check to buy ammunition. That is just like the original check for someone who wants to purchase a gun. And the state police are under the new rules, actually taking over as the middleman between the gun dealer requesting the check, which they could easily do online or by phone, and the FBI's NICS, or National Instant Criminal Background Check, which was free.
However, now the state will charge $9 for the gun purchase check and at least $2.50 for an ammo purchase background check.
"We're less than 30 days away from this, and they haven't sent dealers letters or anything like that," Adamski said. "The thing that I'm hearing just like you're hearing: we're seeing it online from alleged lawyers here that talk to the state police, something like that.
"No information has come out about it. We don't know what it's going to entail, how we're going to do background checks. Are we going to be doing phone checks with them? Are we going to do an online portal. They're not giving us any information."
Adamski added: "It's my understanding that on Sept. 13, the federal government will shut off all New York State dealers from the system, from the NICS state, and it will be done through either the state police or a third party. I've heard rumors of both."
Also, Adamski has one last concern with a switchover, which also happened in 1998 when the FBI started the NICS system: "Any new system is going to have bugs."
We did get the perspective of a local Republican lawmaker after his staff tracked the changes to the revised Conceal Carry package of bills passed in a special quick session for the state legislature last summer.
State Senator George Borrello told 2 On Your Side: "Either this is on purpose, to create more confusion and to discourage the legal possession of firearms, or it's ineptness. It's one or the other, and I don't blame the state police. I'm certain that they have other things to be doing."
We sought an explanation from the New York State Police Public Affairs Office, but there was no response to our call or email.
Last summer Governor Hochul applauded passage of the 2022 NYS Concealed Carry Improvement Act and stated: "I refuse to surrender my right as governor to protect New Yorkers from gun violence or any other form of harm. In New York State, we will continue leading the way forward and implementing common sense gun safety legislation."