Schoharie County supervisors reaffirmed their stand against the state SAFE Act last month after hearing Sheriff Tony Desmond blast the state's plan to have most pistol permit owners renew by January 31, 2018.
The state wants pistol permit owners, who received their permits before January 1, 2013, to renew, Sheriff Desmond told supervisors at their January 20 meeting.
He called it a "boondoggle of gigantic proportions."
The state, he added, "wants to find out how many guns there are and where."
Many of the requests go out to old addresses and are not deliverable.
The Sheriff's Office does not have the manpower to go out and track down these pistol permit holders, he said.
"I'm not sending people out to find people. If the state wants to do it, they have plenty of people to do it."
He added, "It's not right to do this. We're not going to do anything for the state to find out about these guns."
The permit is free to the owners but re-registration is required if it is an old permit.
"I'm not taking a weapon away from a law abiding citizen under any circumstances," Sheriff Desmond said.
Larry Bradt of Carlisle noted that the form is very confusing.
He urged pistol owners not to wait for the state to send a letter since they send it to the wrong address.
Mr. Bradt made a motion that under home rule, the SAFE Act be scrapped and it was approved.
Supervisors also approved a motion supporting the Sheriff and his department in the handling of the pistol permit program.