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Cayuga County Sheriff David Gould said he will not release names and addresses of pistol permit holders as required under the NY SAFE Act. Photo from 2011.

(Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com)

Auburn, NY -- Cayuga County Sheriff David Gould said he has no intention of releasing names and addresses of pistol permit holders as required under the NY SAFE Act legislation.

The gun control law states that the name and address of a pistol permit holder "shall be a public record" unless the holder files an opt-out form with the county sheriff's office.

But Gould said the requirement intruded on law-abiding gun owners' privacy while helping the bad guys.

"That's absolutely ridiculous," Gould said. "I won't release names to people who (file a Freedom of Information Law request). It's not any of their business. They can FOIL all they want, they can do all they want, but right now, no one who legally possesses a weapon will be known by anyone."

His comments came a week after Oswego County Sheriff Reuel Todd joined a lawsuit to declare the SAFE Act unconstitutional, citing its bans on certain guns classified as assault weapons and ammunition magazines with too many rounds. The state sheriff's association is also part of that lawsuit. The sheriff of Schoharie County said last week he had no intention of enforcing the law, drawing a strong rebuke from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Gould said he supported the sheriff's association lawsuit and wanted to take a stand on the pistol permit regulation.

"Unless I am ordered to by a court, I will not release these names and addresses," he said. "It is so bad to release honest peoples' names who are doing everything legal so bad people can know."

Cayuga County has had one company, eMerges.com, request the pistol permit holders' information. It's the same company that was denied by Onondaga County.

The county attorney was on vacation and his office declined comment, other than acknowledging the FOIL request.

But Cayuga County Clerk Sue Dwyer, who maintains the pistol permit records, said she does not have the staffing required to release the data even if she wanted to.

"The sheriff and I are both on the same page," Dwyer said. "The fact of the matter is that we cannot provide the information they are requesting."



The law allows an agency to withhold names as long as the exemption forms are being processed. But Dwyer said the information could never be released because it includes thousands of pieces of individual paper and can't be searched to find out exactly who opted out.

She called the paperwork daunting and said her office hadn't caught up with everything.

"It was a big unfunded mandate, as far as I'm concerned," she said. "We're trying to catch up with what we can do. Not one county (in the state) has complied with the FOIL request."

Her personal view is that it shouldn't be released, anyway. "I absolutely do not believe it is information that should be given to anyone," she said. "These are people who are law-abiding citizens."

Gould said that he wasn't opposed to gun control, but the law as it was currently written. He applauded beefing up mental health checks, for example.

"Something needed to be done, but I don't agree with the way it was presented," said the 44-year police veteran. "It was not professionally put together and thought out."

He expressed hope that amendments to the law being debated in Albany would eventually make it better.