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State agencies try to explain gun laws to critical citizens

Two weeks after passing new gun control measures, New York officials are holding public forums around the state to discuss what's in the law.

New York State Police Deputy Superintendent Kevin Gagan was in Broome County on Tuesday, explaining how the law works.

"When it comes to these assault weapons, if you owned one before the law took effect, you can keep it. You just have to register it."

Assault weapon registration starts in April and lasts a year. Gagan, along with James Sherman, also from the state police, tried to keep the forum on the topic of what's in the law.

But the 100 or so opponents of gun control in attendance took the chance to vent their frustrations, beginning during Broome County District Attorney Gerald Mollen's opening of the meeting.

"Governor Cuomo was the lead on this. He consulted with a lot of people," said Mollen. Members of the audience disagreed vocally, saying things like, "He didn't consult with us."

And so it went for the next hour. Most in attendance in this conservative part of the state strongly criticized the law as an encroachment on their rights.
 

Matt Richmond comes to Binghamton's WSKG, a WRVO partner station in the Innovation Trail consortium, from South Sudan, where he worked as a stringer for Bloomberg, and freelanced for Radio France International, Voice of America, and German Press Agency dpa. He has worked with KQED in Los Angeles, Cape Times in Cape Town, South Africa, and served in the Peace Corps in Cameroon. Matt's masters in journalism is from the Annenberg School for Communication at USC.