Less than two months after rewriting a previously flawed law which had been in the town’s code for decades, Harrison issued its first known secondhand dealers license to the Halstead Avenue gun store L&L Sports.
According to town documents released in response to a Freedom of Information Law, FOIL, request, Town Clerk Jackie Greer granted a secondhand dealers license to Louis Zacchio, who owns L&L Sports, on May 10, seven weeks after the Town Council had approved a revised version of the law requiring dealers of certain used goods to acquire such a license.
The revised version of the law requires applicants to disclose all previous convictions of misdemeanors or felonies, and requires the police chief to file a written report of the applicant’s character and fitness for the permit.
In his application, which was submitted to Greer on May 4, Zacchio admitted to being convicted of a misdemeanor, and to having previously sold used guns from his Orchard Street home without a secondhand dealers license.
A separate FOIL request for the portion of the application in which Zacchio disclosed the circumstances surrounding his misdemeanor charge and for the report of the police chief addressing Zacchio’s character and fitness for the permit was denied by the town, citing invasion of privacy and interagency transmission concerns.
However, documents obtained by the Review show that in 1999, Zacchio pled guilty to driving while impaired and seventh-degree possession of a controlled substance, having pled down from related charges.
But the law does not preclude those who have been convicted of a crime from obtaining a license.
During a public forum held by town officials days before L&L Sports was set to open, some residents insisted that Zacchio had also been breaking town law by selling used firearms without a license.
Some Town Council members, as well as Town Attorney Frank Allegretti and representatives from the U.S. Department of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives, held a forum in November 2016 to address the concerns of residents, many of whom had been alarmed by the store’s proximity to Parsons Memorial Elementary School. Some residents had accused Zacchio of having sold used firearms from his home without obtaining a secondhand dealers license, and had raised concerns about his intentions to sell used guns from the Halstead Avenue shop.
Allegretti said during the forum that he would investigate that allegation; and Zacchio inquired about how to obtain a license shortly after.
But the original text of the law, which, according to Allegretti, could date back as far as 80 or 90 years ago, had made it nearly impossible for the town to issue a license, having not specified a process by which to apply for a license or what town agency would grant or deny the request.
The Town Council unanimously approved its revised secondhand dealers law on March 23, imposing a $200 licensing fee and setting all licenses to expire on Dec. 31 of each year, clarifying the process by which to apply for a license and naming the town clerk as the issuing agency of the document.
The revised law also mandates that those who sell secondhand goods must keep a record of all sales and purchases of used items, available for inspection by the police chief. And it corrects a flagrant oversight which had previously mentioned Nassau County instead of Westchester County.
The law now states that secondhand dealers are required to contact the Police Department if they have used goods fitting the description of any items reported missing in any newspaper within Westchester.
During the public hearings, Mayor Ron Belmont, a Republican, and the town’s attorneys said that several people had inquired about secondhand dealers licenses leading to the consideration to rewrite the law. The Review has submitted a FOIL request to the town seeking all applications for secondhand dealers licenses in 2017 as well as all written or emailed inquiries to the town about the application process since November 2016, but has not received a response as of press time.
Secondhand dealer licenses are required for the sale of most used items in Harrison; however, there are exceptions written in the law for sales of automobiles, pianos, books, magazines and various works of art. Antique dealers and thrift shops are also excluded from such a license.
