Gun Owners Target Fee Hike (ny)

Josey1

Gun Owners Target Fee Hike By Celeste HadrickSTAFF WRITERMarch 5, 2002Seven Nassau gun owners have filed suit against the county, charging that Nassau legislators imposed an illegal tax when they voted two years ago to increase pistol permit fees to $200 from $25.The lawsuit, funded by the National Rifle Association on behalf of about 39,000 Nassau pistol permit holders, was filed in State Supreme Court in Mineola two weeks ago and asks that the 700 percent fee increase approved by the legislature in June 2000 be thrown out, plaintiff Brian F. Pemberton, said yesterday.Pemberton, of Glen Cove, said state law stipulates that permit fees are intended to cover the administrative costs of issuing the permits and are not to make money for the agency.Because a police spokesman had said during the legislative hearing that the cost of issuing pistol permits is $75, Pemberton said the increase was illegal."They singled out one group of people with an illegal tax on firearms," Pemberton said.Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) said the suit has no basis. "The pistol permit holders in Nassau County were not singled out," she said. "This was a total package arrived at in a bipartisan fashion on this legislature that affected fees and permit fees and violation fees, child care fees, golf fees, a whole myriad of different uses."She said the police accounting office had provided legislators with a cost analysis that showed the average pistol license requires 10 hours of investigation, at a cost of $513 plus fringe benefits; one hour of administrative review and approval at a cost of $61.43 plus fringe benefits; and three hours of clerical processing for a cost of $68.67. Most applications need some kind of follow-up, bringing the average processing cost to $1,000 for each application, the analysis concluded.Alluding to the county's financial problems, Jacobs added, "I'm sorry people are upset. I have to warn everyone that there are going to be more difficult decisions made within a few weeks ... These are difficult times, and difficult times require difficult decisions. The gun permit holder decision was only one of many."Pemberton said he expected the county to file an answer to the suit by the end of the month. http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/longisland/ny-ligun052611293mar05.story

Evil ATF

Yes, but how much cash is spent enforcing other laws? How about if we do a cost breakdown on how much it costs the department to do other tasks and see what we come up with?Don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining.

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Stand And Be Counted

WIN-COLT

This is a pure and illegal scam spuewed upon those effected in that area. There is no way in hell that the processing would cost anywhere near that total. Those damn Democrats should be stopped and counter sued for deliberatly misleading those tax paying people. Most people are not issued those extravagent types of perks. I can't see the crooked reasoning behing those high fee's. That is right don't pee on me and tell me that it is raining.