NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WBEN) - New York State Senator Rob Ortt blasted a bill introduced by Long Island State Senator James Gaughran which would ban gun raffles in New York State.
The bill does have some exceptions, which include organizations that are run by veterans, volunteer firefighters, or any police benevolent association. It was originally introduced last week but recently amended to include the exceptions.
Ortt said one of the justifications for the bill is that a person shouldn't be allowed to enter a catering venue and walk out owning a gun.
"Why are you only leaving sportsmen's clubs?" Ortt said. "The only difference is that he's heard from volunteer firemen who said this is a bad bill."
For now, a sportsmen's club such as the Tonawandas Sportsmen's Club would be banned from having a gun raffle should the Albany pass the legislation. That would be devastating for the group, according to its Vice President Dave Notaro.
"We do have two raffles a year," Notaro said. "They're two of our four main raffle fundraisers for the year. Without that, we would not be able to break even or support the club in its current state. We would have to stop."
Winners at a gun raffle receive vouchers to stores where the guns were obtained by the organization that held the raffle.
"We had a raffle last Saturday and not a single person left this raffle with a gun," Notaro said. "It's not like a meat raffle...We would have a major problem if this was banned."
If the bill were to add a sportsmen's group to the exceptions list, Ortt would wonder what democrats were trying to accomplish.
"If you're exempting all these groups, what are you actually accomplishing other than to tell people who don't know," Ortt said. "There's a lot of folks who don't own a gun...There is no need for this legislation. This is just more legislation pushed by someone who is running for his first re-election and is trying to cater to the gun control, anti-second amendment crowd on Long Island."
A similar bill was introduced in the Assembly in January. It was not co-sponsored by any representatives from Western New York. It also failed to leave the racing and wagering committee.
“I fully support the Second Amendment, but glorifying guns with a raffle doesn’t make any sense,” Gaughran told Newsday last week. “It sends a bad message to the public … if you can’t raffle off alcohol, maybe it’s time you can’t raffle off guns.”