(WENY) -- On October 9, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a package of gun control bills into law. However, local government officials and residents are up in arms regarding several of the elements in the legislation.

WENY News spoke with Assemblyman Phil Palmesano and Senator Lea Webb to gain perspective on how lawmakers are both against and for the law, respectively, and how they feel it will affect residents.


A few measures that stick out in the package are credit and debit card companies using special merchant codes to track gun and ammo purchases, a banning of pistol convertors in New York State (NYS), and a new smoking style sign posting requirement at establishments that sell guns.

The Governor says the measures she signed on are meant to enhance gun safety across the state. Many of her fellow democratic colleagues agree but, republicans aren't so sure.

"Well, I think, generally speaking, when we talk about gun legislation and gun control and where we are in the state of New York, I'm generally more skeptical of those types of policies because of this infringement upon the Second Amendment," said Assemblyman Phil Palmesano.

Debates in the capitol continue on whether or not the measures are constitutional. Palmesano says they aren't and the focus to control gun violence should not be placed on licensed carriers. Instead, it should be placed on illegally obtained weapons and the people who have them.

Just two days after Governor Hochul's announcement, a separate bill that was recently passed was, in fact, ruled unconstitutional. The bill called to bar licensed gun owners from concealed carrying on private property.

"We don't need to talk about violating the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. We need to go after the criminals, not law-abiding citizens," said Palmesano.

Palmesano and Webb have different opinions on many of the elements in the law. However, they do agree that Southern Tier residents just want to feel safe in their communities.

"Ultimately, we're trying to ensure that we're striking a balance between, most certainly, the Second Amendment, but also addressing the realities of gun violence," said Senator Webb.

Webb continued, saying that supporting policies like this will allow the state to provide more resources in the effort to help reduce gun violence. She says it can help organizations with things like gun buyback programs, getting ghost guns and military-style guns off the street, and more.

"So all of those pieces are important and so we will continue to pursue not only resources but policies that help to support these issues, to address these issues," said Webb.