Video: Fidler Blasts Cost Reductions For Gun Permits

During last week’s Community Board 15 meeting, Councilman Lew Fidler took an impassioned stance against a proposal to reduce costs for gun permits by three-quarters or more.

“I’ve been in the Council for nine years,” said Fidler. “I don’t think the mayor of the City of New York has asked the City Council to reduce a fee for anything in nine years, and I’ll be damned if the message that I’m going to send is that the one fee I’m going to cut is so that people can own guns.”

Fidler was speaking in advance of a City Council vote requested by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is pushing a bill that would cut the $340 price for original or renewal applications to between $25 and $110, depending on the type of permit. The mayor has made gun control one of his signature issues, but is now requesting the reduction in response to Supreme Court rulings against other states whose high permit fees were seen as infringements on the Second Amendment.

Ultimately, the vote scheduled for October 27 was not moved forward because of widespread opposition, but Councilman Fidler told Sheepshead Bites that it remains a possibility for the future.