Battle of Plattsburgh reenactments halted by gun legislation

Sep. 9—PLATTSBURGH — This year's Battle of Plattsburgh Commemoration will have no guns and no battles.

New York state's new concealed carry legislation, which went into effect Sept. 1, is preventing Battle of Plattsburgh reenactors from carrying and using their antique firearms in sensitive locations like museums and other public areas that are restricted from general public access for a limited time or special event, State Assemblyman D. Billy Jones said at a City Hall press conference Thursday.

'THEY'RE NOT COMING'

"Basically what that says is our reenactors here, when they do their performances, when they march down the street carrying their weapons, that is considered a sensitive area under this law," Jones (D-Chateaugay Lake), said.

"We have friends and neighbors to the north who have not been able to come here for three years, and now the time that they can come...they're not coming...because a reenactor is not going to show up if they can't have their weapons, that's what they do."

Besides the battle reenactments, all other planned activities will still be happening.

This will just affect the usual battle reenactments that take place at the Kent-Delord House Museum and every other event where reenactors would normally have their musket rifles, black powder rifles or flintlock rifles over the four-day weekend.

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

The 1814 Commemoration Inc., the non-profit organization behind the Battle of Plattsburgh, was not made aware of the gun issue until Wednesday, just one day before the events were set to begin.

President Tom Donahue said since then, he made calls to legislators and eventually reached out to Jones to see if Gov. Hochul could either make an exemption for the Battle of Plattsburgh, or clarify to them that she can't.

"All we're asking for is an answer, if you can't do anything, tell us that. We're told by the New York State Police that they're just enforcing the law, so if anyone is carrying one of those weapons, whether it's one of the reenactors, whether you're having a salute in front of the monument — those are in violation of the law. and actually, it's considered a felony," Donahue said.

"I'm very disappointed for the reenactors not to be able to do what they do, I'm very disappointed for all the participants that were planning on coming to the battle to see the reenactments, but I do say there's a lot more things to do..."

CANNONS STILL ALLOWED

While they have yet to hear back with a definitive answer from the governor's office, Samantha Williams, museum director at the Kent-Delord House Museum, said she called the New York State Gun Safe line to ask them how to proceed.

"I was advised that, museums, even if they are private property, cannot have any type of weapon on it, because they reclassified what a flintlock musket is, it used to be considered an antique firearm, now it's lumped in with shotguns," Williams said.

"Therefore, if anyone brings them onto our grounds, that's basically committing a felony because a museum is considered a safe (sensitive) space."

However, Williams said, cannons will still be allowed for demonstrations.

"He said don't bring anything (firearms) onto the property, but cannons are allowed. So I'm allowed to fire as many cannons as I would like," she said.

REENACTORS CANCELING

PJ Miller, chairman of the reenactors for the Battle of Plattsburgh, said they've had several reenactors cancel because of the uncertainty surrounding the firearms, so even if Hochul gave them the green light for firearm usage soon, many of the reenactors are now not coming.

"We have had reenactors who said they would rather not come in order to protect themselves and hopefully not get in trouble," Miller said.

"That's not what any of us would like to do. So because of concerns with bringing flintlocks and not being able to do their presentations as they normally would, we have had cancellations unfortunately."

Jones said had the legislation been vetted properly, these issues would have been found earlier.

"I just cannot express my disappointment on how this law was put through and implemented," he said.

"Why couldn't we vet this process out so we could catch things like this? I don't know. But we find ourselves in quite a bind here...no matter what your opinions are on guns or gun control, this is ridiculous — absolutely ridiculous."

State Sen. Dan Stec (R-Queensbury) shared similar sentiments about the legislation.

"The gun control law rammed through by Democrat leaders is so ill-conceived and poorly written that historic re-enactments are essentially illegal," Stec said in a statement Thursday.

"Instead of taking time to substantively address violent crime in New York, they've punished museums and history aficionados. It's absurd. The difficulties being faced by the Battle of Plattsburgh organizers are unacceptable and completely avoidable. I urge the governor to provide an exemption for this weekend's event, but that isn't enough.

"The governor and the Legislature must reconvene and address the many flaws in their gun control law."

Email: cnewton@pressrepublican.com

Twitter: CarlySNewton