“It’s basically if you don’t have the gun on your person or within your immediate control, you lock it up. “If somebody wants to commit suicide, if they can’t get a gun, then you’re going to have to go to the Rhinecliff Bridge and start a law there.”įaluotico said he is willing to work with Wenk on gun safety, “but what it’s going to take you to do is to pull this law off the table, forget the nonsense that’s going on here tonight, allow everybody to go home, and we’ll work on something to educate the public together.”īut Alexandra Dubruff, volunteer for New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, said Wenk’s proposal is straightforward and not unprecedented. “There are too many laws already on the books that have been created by town boards like this, county legislatures like ours, state assemblies and state senates like ours, that, one, have no money in them for education, which yours does not have no money in it for enforcement, which yours does not have no money for community outreach, which yours does not,” said Faluotico. We’re here to tell you the faults of your actions.”įaluotico said “immediate possession” is contained within one’s residence or vehicle, so Wenk’s proposal is “already defeated” by the definition of immediate possession. We are all on the same page with that,” he said.

“There’s not a person in this room, Jay, that disagrees with gun safety. Because the owner had the serial numbers registered, they were recovered by Kingston police within three days, Keefe said.įormer Ulster County Undersheriff Frank Faluotico tried to drive the point home that Wenk’s legislation is unnecessary from a gun owner’s and law enforcement perspective. Police Chief Clayton Keefe said the last theft of guns in the town was in 2010 when 12 long guns were taken from a locked cabinet in a Wittenberg home. Nobody ever contacted any of the officers or any members,” said Bloomer. “Our gun club went as far as even offering free gun safety classes to the town…perhaps at the community center or our club. Wittenberg Sportsmen’s Club Vice President Bob Bloomer said nobody contacted the organization except McKenna, who said Wenk would be calling. “It was never discussed at the board meeting so I’d like to know who they talked to.” “I am a board member of the High Woods Gun Club,” said Ed Altenau. He suggested Wenk reach out to the area gun clubs, which denied that there was any such contact. Supervisor Bill McKenna has voiced his concerns about a law that he characterized as punitive in nature and suggested efforts are better directed toward safety education.

Violating the law would be punishable by a $500 fine, 120 days in jail or both. “All firearms in the town of Woodstock, whether handguns or long rifles and shotguns and all air guns will be secured, unloaded in locked cabinets and/or protected with trigger locks whenever the firearm or air gun is out of the owner’s or custodian’s immediate possession or control,” the resolution states. The law, as proposed by Councilman Jay Wenk, would require firearms to be secured in a cabinet or with a trigger lock when not in the owner’s immediate possession. A proposed firearm storage law drew a standing-room-only crowd of mostly gun owners to the Woodstock Town Board meeting March 21 as council members attempt to balance safety with the right to self defense.

Locked away 2010