Eddington Looking to Implement Legislation Restricting Air Guns in Suffolk County

A business owner in Ronkonkoma is at odds with a recently proposed piece of legislation in Suffolk County designed to ensure the safe use of air guns.

David Foltmann, the owner of Cobra Airguns in Ronkonkoma, is advocating against the legislation that is not yet set in stone.

The main thrust of this legislation is to identify air guns and rifles as weapons and prohibit the discharge of any air gun within 150 feet of any residence in Suffolk County, county Leg. Jack Eddington said. Also, the bill defines an air gun as any rifle, pistol, or shot gun which discharges .20 caliber or greater pellets propelled by compressed air or gas at a muzzle velocity of 700 feet per second or greater.

"The improper and reckless use of air guns can cause serious injury and death," Eddington said in a statement. "Numerous studies have documented the potentially severe, even lethal, nature of these injuries, especially when the pellets penetrate the abdomen, chest, eye and head of a child."

Safety is the justification of this law, but Foltmann disputes that the only reason this legislation is currently before the legislature is due to a vendetta one of his neighbors has against him resulting from neighborhood politics. 

He told Patch the anonymous neighbor has frequently called the police and the legislature arguing that Cobra Airguns has people test firing their rifles endangering local school children.  He confidently asserts that this is a fabrication and said, "that if this were the case there would be numerous complaints from many other neighbors." 

Foltmann admits that there are obvious safety concerns with any object that discharges projectiles, but argues that with parental supervision and guidance they are relatively safe.

Eddington said the towns of Babylon, Huntington, Smithtown and Brookhaven along with the villages of Patchogue, Southampton, Babylon, and Port Jefferson have enacted legislation regulating the use of air guns. Municipalities in 19 states regulate air gun use also.

"In some cases, the discharge of these guns is absolutely restricted within the bounds of the town or village," Eddington added. "In other cases, a parameter is given. For instance, in the Village of Southampton you cannot discharge any gun within 500 feet of any dwelling or building occupied by a person as a dwelling.

"The legislation takes a common sense approach to a safety issue while respecting individuals' rights to own and operate air guns. If you are an air gun enthusiast who has a passion for hunting, target shooting, paintballing, this bill will not hinder that. What it will do is require that air gun users discharge their guns responsibly, which means not from the bedroom window into traffic on Route 25 or in the backyard 75 feet away from the neighbor's kiddie pool."