DELHI - On the heels of a father-son hunting excursion, New York State Senator Peter Oberacker, representing the state’s 51st Senate District which includes Delaware County, talked about legislation he has authored with an eye toward protecting New York’s outdoor sporting traditions for generations to come.
The bills include:
S.870 - which would add a new article to the state constitution to ensure that the time-honored and respected pastimes of hunting, fishing, and trapping are recognized as rights of the people.
Oberacker is a longtime hunter and considers himself both an outdoorsman and sportsman. He started hunting with his grandfather when he was eight years old and began taking his own son hunting when he was eight, continuing the tradition. He now has a grandson, who is two years old.
“A sportsman in training!” he laughed.
He loves the challenge of bow hunting for big game, like deer, he said.
“You have to get them (animal) within 30 yards. It’s a whole new ball of wax,” he said of bow hunting.
Oberacker also hunts rabbit and turkey. He gets out on the river for angling any time he can, he said.
“It’s therapy.”
He continues a hunting tradition he has participated in since his youth, which includes a potluck dinner at a hunting camp he belongs to in Schenevus. The night before big game opening season he and fellow hunting club members bring a dish to pass - his is white chili; and during dinner, they sit and talk about previous hunts and experiences and what they are looking forward to on opening day.
There are also rites-of-passage among club members that Oberacker himself participated in.
“When you miss a shot you cut a piece of your shirt tail and tack it to the wall,” he said good-naturedly.
Generally speaking, he believes people have a negative impression of hunting and outdoorsmanship. It’s something he personally endeavors to rectify by educating people about the whole experience, not just the five-second harvest. It’s an exploration and understanding of nature, different species of trees and underbrush; identification of buck-rubs or scrapes and deer-runs (paths deer frequently travel).
“Its a whole process,” Oberacker said, “and there is respect for the animal. You don’t haphazardly take a shot.”
A proficient shot with a gun or a bow gives respect to the animal that just gave up its life for sustenance, he said.
S.7674 - which would exempt individuals with a pistol permit from the new ammunition background check and the fees involved.
“These individuals have already undergone a significant background check and should not be required to endure this duplicative process,” Oberacker said.
“When my colleagues across the aisle started to debate the new gun laws coming out, this was one of these pieces I was extremely concerned about,” Oberacker said. He doesn’t believe the new law accomplishes what fellow legislators hoped it would, he said.
“They don’t understand our way of life up here in the rural area I represent.” He does not believe, he said, that lawmakers took the time to educate themselves on rural life, which accounts for a large part of New York state. The law, he continued, just created another hurdle for hunters and shooting sports participants - like skeet or clay pigeon shooters - to go through to get ammunition for their sport.
The intent of the law is to track ammunition, but it is being used as a deterrent for shooting sports and hunting.
“The intent was good. The result was negative,” Oberacker said of the ammunition background check law.
The new law is also onerous and duplicative for those who already possess a pistol license. In order to obtain a pistol license, Oberacker said, an extensive background check must be done, and in order to keep the license there are training and recertification requirements.
“Why do we have to go through other steps?” he asked. “I would like us (state legislature) to go back and address this,” Oberacker said.
He doesn’t know why state lawmakers continue to make the same mistakes, he said.
Much like the SAFE (Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement) Act of 2013 which banned magazines (clips) with capacities of more than 10 rounds (making state police officers criminals) before an amendment to the law was introduced, the Ammunition Registration Act was not well thought out and didn’t include input from industry stakeholders - sportsmen and sporting good stores and police who are tasked with enforcing provisions of the law without infrastructure or personnel in place.
“It’s created havoc,” Oberacker said.
He knows of many hunters and shooting sport participants who have been delayed in the purchase of ammunition.
“It’s totally unacceptable. The end does not justify the means,” he said.
His legislation, S.7674, would exempt those who have a concealed carry pistol permit from a background check to purchase ammunition. Oberacker has been a licensed pistol owner since 1986.
S.73 - which would allow for the use of a crossbow during seasons when conventional bows are used. That legislation, Oberacker said, is supported by many older hunters who still want to enjoy bow hunting but struggle with a classic bow due to physical limitations.
He is also concerned about the viability of local businesses.
“I’ve had local sports shops reach out to me and express their extreme frustration,” he said.
Business owners, especially those like Marino’s Outdoor World in Hancock which borders Pennsylvania - a state which does not have stringent gun or ammunition laws - are losing customers to New York border states. The intent, Oberacker said, was if ammunition was controlled, gun violence would be controlled.
“It doesn’t work that way,” he said. “People will go where they can to get what they want and the only ones who are getting hurt are local businesses.”
His goal is to educate his colleagues in Albany. His draft bills are his priority for the new legislative session that begins in January 2024, he said. The bills must first make it through committee.
“This is where the real work begins,” he said. “Sportsmen and sportswomen contribute in significant ways to our communities and our economy, as well as to the health of our fish and game populations. I will continue to advocate for policies that help grow hunting, fishing, and trapping opportunities,” Oberacker said.
