Bipartisan support and public input has reinvigorated a Democratic initiative looking to tighten control over gun shows countywide, after a veto from Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican, derailed a potential ban last month.
According to Joe Sgamatto, a spokesman for the Board of Legislators’ Democratic Caucus, the potential legislation—which will expound upon a set of Republican initiatives introduced simultaneously with Democrats’ proposed ban on gun shows held at county facilities—came as a result of sweeping public comment. New provisions would seek to bolster security at shows, enforce proper signage, and potentially impose an age restriction for attendees.
In addition to the dozens of public testimonies that flooded the Westchester County Convention Center earlier this month on the Republican laws regulating gun shows, Sgamatto said lawmakers received a torrent of phone calls railing against the legislation, which—even after the public hearing—was introduced to the legislative floor unchanged.
“We already had 36 voicemails by the time we got to the office in the morning,” said Sgamatto referring to the day following the legislation’s introduction.
The Republican legislation that Democrats will look to strengthen is an extension of New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s model New York Guns Show Procedures.
According to a statement from county Legislator Ben Boykin, a White Plains Democrat, among the potential additions to the regulations may be overnight security for private gun shows in addition to provisions mandating greater cooperation with law enforcement when privately held shows do take place.
Some of the proposed laws would apply to both public and privately held gun shows in the county.
County Legislator Catherine Parker, a Rye Democrat, told the Review that she would also pursue a possible age restriction for both public and private shows held in Westchester. “I’m applying the same sort of law that you have for children in bars,” Parker said. “You have to be 21 years old to drink and you have to be 21 years of age to even be at a bar.”
Exactly what those age restrictions would be, how they would be enforced, or whether they will find their way into a final product, Parker said, would come as a result of committee deliberations.
Across the aisle, Legislator Jim Maisano, a New Rochelle Republican, who has been outspoken over his opposition to a ban on gun shows, said while constituents in his district had little to no feedback on the laws, he and his Republican colleagues are open to working with Democrats on retooling some provisions.
“We’re very open to having a conversation,” Maisano said.
On the county level, tensions over increased regulation on gun shows reached a fever pitch last month after a piece of legislation, passed by the Board of Legislators in a partisan vote by Democrats that effectively banned gun shows at county-owned facilities, was vetoed by Astorino.
The ban, which was unsuccessfully floated in 2010 by Legislator Ken Jenkins, a Yonkers Democrat, who plans to run for county executive this year, came in response to a gun show held at the County Center last month, and would have reinstated an embargo from former County Executive Andrew Spano that lapsed when Astorino took office in 2010.
According to Phil Oliva, a spokesman for the Astorino administration, January’s gun show netted $47,000 in revenue for the county and saw 8,000 visitors, both of which exceeded expectations.
Now, according to Parker, Michael Kaplowitz, a Yorktown Democrat and chairman of the Board of Legislators, will continue to mull an override of Astorino’s veto which would require a bipartisan supermajority vote of 12 legislators in order to overturn the decision.
Whether that override would garner the necessary bipartisan support, Parker said, remains unclear. But Maisano told the Review he doesn’t see himself or his Republican colleagues shifting their stance any time soon.
According to Oliva, the most recent round of proposals being assessed by county legislators may fare better than an outright ban.
“[Astorino] has said he would be open to [the laws],” Oliva said. “We look forward to looking at the legislation when it comes back from committee.”
