With the beginning of another new year, many of you are busy setting and following through on your new year’s resolutions. As I begin this New Year and my first term as your Assemblyman, I have been busy setting my legislative priorities for this year’s session.

One of those priorities is to vigorously defend our Second Amendment rights, in addition to working to promote the North Country’s hunting, fishing and outdoor industries.

On an annual basis, downstate politicians make great efforts to impose excessive gun control regulations on law-abiding citizens and small businesses, which only serves to highlight what is wrong in Albany. These efforts do more than infringe on our basic rights, they take away valuable recreational opportunities. These regulations threaten local job creation as well by imposing taxes on working sportsmen simply because Albany cannot manage its own finances.

To rally support for our cause and stop New York City lawmakers from further encroaching on our Constitutional rights, I am participating in the second annual Sportsmen and Outdoor Recreation Legislative Awareness Day on January 25th from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., which will be held in the “Well” of the Legislative Office Building in Albany.

The event will feature outdoor sports vendors and organizations including representatives from the National Rifle Association, the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Shooters Committee on Political Education, New York 4-H State Shooting Sports and Remington Arms. You also will have the opportunity to meet with legislative leaders, including myself, about the important issues related to keeping this vital industry alive in the North Country and across New York State.

I hope you will join me and thousands of fellow outdoor enthusiasts for this event in defense of our rights as Americans. For more information about this event, please contact my office at (315) 287-2384.

As your newly-elected Assemblyman, I look forward to advocating for the North Country’s sportsmen and outdoor industries. Be assured, that I will work tirelessly to preserve and protect Second Amendment rights for law-abiding citizens in this state.