Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski (D-Rockland) announced he will be introducing legislation amending the recently enacted NY SAFE Act that will explicitly prohibit any surcharge or fee from being imposed for the new five year pistol permit renewal and assault rifle registry. The new law did not impose any fees for the new programs and it has been made clear that no fee will be currently charged, however, there is no explicit prohibition in the future.

“I think it is important that we explicitly clarify the law so that no fees can ever be imposed for these programs in the future”, said Zebrowski. “I am happy the current administration has no plans to collect a fee, however, I think it is important that we assure gun owners that these programs are purely about public safety and can never be used as a tax.”

Under the new law, pistol permit holders will have to renew their permit every five years. The law will also create a registry system for owners to register newly classified assault rifles. Outside New York City, this will mark the first time gun owners will have to register certain types of long rifles. The assault weapon registry and the permit renewal will be administered through the State Police.

The proposed legislation will explicitly prohibit any fee or surcharge from being imposed during both the pistol permit renewal process and the assault weapon registry.

“We want law abiding gun owners to cooperate with this new process and an arbitrary fee or surcharge threatens the success of the program by creating a disincentive,” said Assemblyman Zebrowski. “By clarifying the new law gun owners can be confident there will be no new costs with license renewal,” concluded Zebrowski.