Governor Kathy Hochul holds a COVID-19 briefing in Syracuse on April 20. (Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

ALBANY — Two state lawmakers have teamed up in an effort to exclude state forest preserves in the Adirondacks and Catskills from newly-enacted state firearms restrictions.

“Adirondack Park residents deserve better than vague answers and conflicting statements from the governor’s office and state legislators over the intent and application of their gun control law,” Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury said. “Instead, let’s do the correct and simple thing and pass my bill to exempt the Adirondack and Catskill Parks from this law.”

During the legislative floor debate last week, Democrats said the restrictions barring firearms from parks — with exemptions for police officers, retired police officers and several other categories — would apply to the Adirondacks and Catskills because they have been designated as state parks.

The office of Gov. Kathy Hochul, however, has issued statements contending the Adirondacks and Catskills would not impact individuals who have been issued pistol permits.

Stec said the bill he sponsors with Assemblyman Matt Simpson, R-Horicon, would put a stop to the “confusion.”

“If the governor and Senate Democrats agree that their rushed legislation has no impact on law-abiding gun owners, then codifying that into law should be a no-brainer,” Stec said. “Let’s not drag out this confusion any longer and provide our gun owners with the resolution they need and deserve.”

Simpson said the legislation is necessary to avoid “frivolous prosecution of law-abiding citizens.”

Hochul pushed through the law, issuing a “message of necessity” to lawmakers and without holding any public forum. Hochul speculated the state could become “the Wild West” as the result of more people being eligible for concealed carry permits due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling finding the state had infringed upon the rights of New Yorkers.

In Vermont, individuals eligible to purchase rifles can also purchase handguns without getting special pistol permits from the state, and that state allows concealed carry of handguns without any permits.

On a related front, Delaware County Sheriff Craig DuMond on Friday issued a strong criticism of Albany’s new legislation, predicting it will backfire and expose New Yorkers to more criminality instead of making them safer.

“The mandatory training and live-fire requirements, to include all current pistol licenses, and soon to be semi-automatic rifles, holders will be logistically and virtually impossible for many current license holders, especially for our most vulnerable, senior citizens,” DuMond said. “At this rate, it will not be long until we find ourselves in a state where only the criminals have guns.”

The Supreme Court ruling, which overturned a state law implemented in 1913, was issued in response to a lawsuit brought by the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association.

Its president, Tom King, told CNHI the group is now working on another lawsuit aimed at overturning the Hochul-backed legislation. State GOP leaders have also vowed they will take the state to court over the new statute.

Hochul has predicted the legislation will withstand court scrutiny.