ALBANY, NY (AP) — Some re-enactments of the historic battle in New York are holding guns to shoot canola bullets out of worry about the state’s new gun regulations — an unplanned side effect of the law. designed to protect the safety of the public.
The law that went into effect this month declares parks, government properties and a long list of other “sensitive” locations to not allow the use of guns. The rules leaned more toward semi-automatic pistols than fire-blocking weapons, but the performers feared arrest if they openly reenacted battles from the colonial era to the Civil War in the field.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s administration insists that re-enactments of the historic battle are still acceptable and some are still taking place this month. But persistent skepticism among event organizers and participants has led to several cancellations, such as an 18th-century garrison and battle reenactment planned last weekend in London. north of Saratoga Springs.
“We have received reports from units allegedly in attendance that they did not feel comfortable transporting muskets or carrying muskets to the site,” said Harold Nicholson, a reenacter who participated in the event. lawsuit at Rogers Island said. “And so at that point, we decided it was best not to (continue).”
The change comes from a law was quickly passed after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated New York’s requirement that people demonstrate an unusual threat to their safety in order to qualify for a license to carry a handgun outside of their home.
Hochul and the Democrats who control the state Legislature responded with a law that sets forth strict new licensing criteria and limited to handguns, shotguns and rifles can be carried. Some re-enactors who have reviewed the text of the law have concluded that the old-fashioned weapons they use can rank them in the ranks of the new rules.
Among the canceled events: two Civil War reruns in upstate New York this month and a Revolutionary War raid to be held this weekend at historic Fort Klock in the Valley Mohawk.
“The reason why we canceled it was for fear of exposing the people we invited to the event to prosecute for committing a felony,” said Robert Metzger, executive director of the Fort Klock Historic Restoration Board. .
Metzger said he realizes that local sheriffs have “better things to do than harass 70-year-old men with firelocks,” but it’s likely someone could complain. And the nonprofit corporation doesn’t want the chance to lose its state charter.
He added that the actors re-emerged from Canada were reluctant to come down for the event.
Hochul’s press office, in a prepared statement, said historical re-enactments can continue under the law “and there is nothing to worry about.”
“We will work with local legislators and law enforcement to ensure these events can play out as they have for centuries,” the government said. “In the meantime, individuals who have legally participated in reenactments should continue to do so.”
Reenactment organizers at Fort Ticonderoga in northern New York took that advice, staging a reenactment of the 1777 raid on the fort.
“Both the governor’s office and state leadership have advised us to just continue operating as usual,” said Beth Hill, president and chief executive officer of the Fort Ticonderoga Association. “So we didn’t change anything.”
But the governor’s repeated assurances mean less for other groups. They say they won’t feel safe on simulated battlefields in New York until there are changes to the law that make it clear they won’t become defendants if they act like historic soldiers. .
“We want our history to live on,” says Metzger. “And they’re making it pretty difficult.”
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