Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,I,C – Batavia) recently voiced his opposition to Assembly Bill 1157, which would place new mandates on firearms producers through the process of microstamping. The bill would require companies to add expensive new technology, leaving imprinted marks on discharged rounds, which could lead to the loss of jobs and increased costs to Western New York’s sportsmen.

“Placing onerous, costly mandates on New York’s business owners fails to increase public safety and only succeeds in giving these job-creators another reason to pack up and leave New York,” said Hawley. “Furthermore, as costs rise for arms producers, so will the prices of their products, passing the cost on down to our proud sportsmen exercising their 2nd amendment right to bear arms in a safe manner. If we want to address gun safety, we should be aiming to remove illegal, unregistered guns from our community, rather than burdening the business owners and sportsmen that are properly utilizing this equipment.”

Hawley has consistently voted against prior legislation seeking to impose microstamping mandates against arms producers.