Albany County, NY Restricts Safety Device Access

Flare guns aren’t weapons. They can be used as a weapon, of course, but so can anything else if you’re creative enough. That’s why some people make a point that the person is the weapon, not the instrument in their hands.

What flare guns are intended for is safety. If you’re in trouble, you can shoot the flare gun into the air and signal for help. If people see a flare in the sky, they know what’s up and will either help themselves or call for someone more capable.

And in Albany County, New York, if you’re an adult under 21 and you need a safety device, you’re screwed now. And not because lawmakers passed a law, either. No, this came as an executive order.

Flare guns are designed and marketed as emergency signaling devices, but they are capable of causing severe bodily harm and property damage when misused. A recent rise in cases in Albany County of flare guns being illegally converted into firearms was one of the factors driving the new executive order.

“Flare guns are meant to save lives, not endanger them. Unfortunately, over the summer we saw too many cases where they were misused or even turned into real weapons. Raising the purchase age to 21 is a simple, sensible step to keep people safe while still allowing responsible use. This is about prevention and protecting our communities before tragedy strikes. This is one additional tool in the tool box as we promote public safety,” McCoy said in a news release.

People misusing flare guns is something that likely needs to be dealt with, but restricting legal adults from accessing something everyone knows is a safety device isn’t the answer.

The fact that some are converting them to fire actual ammunition, apparently, is a slightly different matter, but that doesn’t change how stupid this measure actually is.

After all, if someone can buy a 3D printer, they can purpose build a firearm with parts they can legally purchase off the internet and fire a whole lot more than the single round a flare gun can be converted to fire. Hell, in Europe, they have non-firing replicas that keep being converted into live firearms. You’re not going to stop someone who does such a thing.

And even this isn’t going to do much. At most, it’s a misdemeanor, which means that someone under 21 with nefarious intentions can just get a friend to get him the flare gun. There aren’t background checks, Form 4473s, or anything to see who purchased it, after all. Hell, the person could just go to another county and buy one.

In other words, this isn’t really going to do anything because it’s so easy to circumvent…except put law-abiding adults under 21 in a risky position since they can’t purchase a safety device that might just save their lives.

About the only thing that might be solved here is that it’ll be a bit harder for younger adults to be stupid and play around by shooting flares at one another. That’s it, and I’m still not convinced that it’s a bit enough problem to warrant anything.

Plus, as noted, this is an executive order by a county official. I’m not entirely convinced he has the authority to do anything like this. Maybe there’s some quirk in New York state law that permits it, or under county law, but if so, that’s a massive problem because you can get something like this, where a safety device is restricted, putting lives at risk, all because one guy thinks he has to Do Something (TM).

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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