2ANYS (formerly 2AWNY.COM) has been aggressively launching new Chapters throughout New York state over the past month. The group’s founder, Steve Felano, of Erie County, says they looking for NYS to stop violating the Second Amendment.
“We plan on looking into accusations that people are buying off judges to get their permits,” says Felano.
“There is favoritism and nepotism that is going on. We are questioning the way that County Judges treat the Second Amendment. We are asking the Second Amendment be treated like all the other rights under the Bill of Rights. We are not asking for anything radical, we are asking for County Judges to treat this civil right like all the others and have an objective standard that complies with the Heller Decision of 2008.”
DC v. Heller was a legal case where the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution does protect a person’s right to possess a firearm for private matters and use within the home.
2ANYS filed a lawsuit in Rockland County last week for denying all conceal and carry permits. Felano says permits can only be denied based on having a felony violation or a civil conviction under mental health. He says in Rockland, the County Judge is requesting a letter from applicants as to why they are applying for a permit and then the applicant has to sign a HIPAA disclosure form which allows the County to have access to the applicants medical records to see what prescriptions they are on.
“These are all violations and could be used as a possible pre-condition for denying you a permit, which is all unconstitutional.”
Felano says the group is suing all County Judges who are no complying with the Heller Decision, and if that does not work the group plans to escalate the issue further to the NYS State Court system and then to the Federal Courts.
Genesee County held their first chapter meeting this past Thursday night at the Calvary Baptist Church on Galloway road in Batavia. There are now Chapters in 50 of the 62 counties in the state. To organize, there must be at least 10 active members. Many of the people who showed up to the first meeting on Thursday are members of SCOPE.
Genesee County organizer Don Frank says 2ANYS is a bit different than SCOPE.
“SCOPE is a group that is organized by a master organization at the state level. There are things that SCOPE members can’t do, they can’t endorse politicians, they have to follow the charter of SCOPE, 2ANYS does not have those restrictions,” says Frank.
The Genesee County Chapter of 2ANYS is looking to take on Genesee County issues and hopes to work with the County Legislature.
“We are interested in youth education initiatives, getting kids out and teaching them to shoot. Overtime we are tending to move away from the culture of guns, kids don’t shoot anymore. We have trap shooting teams for some schools, we are going to support that and try and get them involved with this organization.”
For more information on the group go to their Facebook page at 2ANYS Genesee Co.NY