Two years after the state adopted among the toughest gun-control measures in the nation, some Republican state law-makers are seeking reforms to the controversial law.

Republicans senators in recent days have introducedbills that would either repeal the so-called SAFE Act or modify it, such as allowing homeowners to have 10 bullets,instead of seven, in a handgun at home.

Critics said the law was hastily passed in the middle ofthe night in January 2013 and needs to be revisited. For

example, a federal judge has ruled the seven-bullet limit as unconsti-tutional, and police aren’t enforcing it. The law is also being fought incourt.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo championed the law in the wake of the New-town, Conn., school shooting in 2012, and he’s shown no interest in ma-jor changes. Some Democrats said they want to make the law stronger,while gun-rights advocates held numerous protests calling for itsrepeal.

Republicans, who took a majority in the Senate this month, saidthey will press for changes.

“I think the time is right for, if not outright repeal, then certainlymodifications to the SAFE Act, and I’m hopeful we are going to seesome movement on it in the new session,” said Sen. Phil Boyle, R-Suffolk County, who is sponsoring the "Defend Our Homes Act.”

Since the law took effect in March 2013, there were 3,930 arrests asof mid-December under the various SAFE Act offenses, state recordsobtained by Gannett’s Albany Bureau showed.

Findings

3,930Since the SAFE Act took ef-fect, arrests as of mid-Decem-ber under the law.

3,230The overwhelming majorityof the arrests were in NewYork City, mainly in the Bronxor Brooklyn.

Outside the city, the mostwere on Long Island and thenMonroe County, where therewere

69 arrests.

53arrests in Erie County

34in Westchester County

14in Broome County.

3,173were for criminal possessionof a firearm, which was madea felony under the law.

JOSEPH SPECTOR ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

SEEKINGSAFEACTREFORMS

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Horseheads Intermediate Schoolsixth-grader Sophie Kartzman rallieda community to send thousands ofcards to troops and veterans over the

holiday and her effortsearned her a nationalGeorge Bush Points ofLight award.

This week, Sophielearned more than13,000 cards werecollected through herefforts.

“The cards keptcoming,” Sophie said.“I thought we col-lected 9,000 cards, butthe school principaltold me in class we had

13,000. I wasn’t expecting that.”Sophie, the daughter of David and

Denise Kartzman, of Horseheads,inspired people from across the nationto write holiday and thank you cards

PROVIDED PHOTO

Sophie Kartzman, left, delivers a card toNorm Overstrom at the Bath VA MedicalCenter just before Christmas.

KartzmanwinsnationalawardHorseheads girlcollected 13K cards

See AWARD, Page 5A

JENNIFERKINGSLEYNeighbors

ITHACA — Many people anticipatethe holiday season to be a time for glut-tony. Once the new year hits, they resolve to go back to their normal, oreven healthier, eating habits, or so theirbest intentions say.

But a study by the Cornell Food andBrand Lab suggests something differ-ent happens. Instead of buying morefruits and vegetables in favor of thoseunhealthier food choices, people dopurchase the healthy food items while

David Just, a professor ofbehavioral economics atCornell University’s DysonSchool.

More foodbought afterthe holidays

MATTHEW HAYESMMHAYES@GANNETT.COM

See FOOD, Page 5A

F R I D AY , J A N U A RY 9 , 2 015 S TA R - G A Z E T T E • 5 A

Obituaries

Bentley Creek, PA: Age 94 of Bentley Creek,Pennsylvania, died on Wednesday, January 7, 2015, at The Homestead in Penn Yan, NY, where she hadresided for two years. She was born on April 15, 1920, in Troy, PA, the daughter of the late John andEmma Mason. Margaret was predeceased by herhusband of 65 years, Ronald G. Woodard, and herdaughter Darla Lowery. She is survived by her sonand daughter-in-law R. Dennis and Evelyn Woodardof Penn Yan, daughter and son-in-law Penny andZane Palmer of Fort Myers Beach, FL, and son-in-law Hubert “Spike” Lowery of Mesquite, NV; hersisters, Beverly Knights and Dorando Hoose, bothof Troy, PA; grandchildren, Amy (Todd) Freyman, Laurie (Tom) Morrell, Zane (Alexis) Palmer, Jeff(Stephanie) Lowery, and Brett (Amy) Lowery, 11 great grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.She was a dedicated member of the Bentley CreekWesleyan Church. She retired from Westinghouseafter 20 years of service. Margaret loved to playcards and bowl, and enjoyed quilting with Ronald.Funeral services will be held at the Olthof FuneralHome, Inc., 1050 Pennsylvania Avenue, Elmira, NY,on Saturday, January 10, 2015, at 11 am. Intermentwill take place privately and at the convenience ofthe family at the Bentley Creek Cemetery, BentleyCreek, PA. In lieu of flowers, memorial donationsmay be directed to the Bentley Creek WesleyanChurch, Bentley Creek, PA 15564. Envelopes will be provided at the funeral home. Margaret's guestbookmay be signed in obituaries at www.olthof.com

Woodard, Margaret Mason

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Representatives

The overwhelming majority of the arrests — 3,230 —were in New York City, mainly in the Bronx and Brook-lyn. Outside the city, the most were on Long Island and then Monroe County, where there were 69arrests, records shows.

There were 53 arrests under the SAFE Act in ErieCounty, 34 in Westchester County and 14 in BroomeCounty.

The most — 3,173 — were for criminal possession ofa firearm, which was made a felony under the law. Ofthe total arrests, 2,409 were in 2014.

There were just two arrests, both last October in Jef-ferson and Rensselaer counties, for failing to registeran assault weapon, and none for a provision that makesit a crime for a seller of ammunition to fail to register orkeep records — which took effect a year ago.

Some law-enforcement officials said they are enforcing the law, but haven’t been aggressively seek-ing out gun owners to see if they are complying.

“If we run across it through other circumstances,whether it be on a call, an investigation or a traffic stop,then we will take the appropriate action,” DutchessCounty Capt. John Watterson said. The county had 12arrests under the SAFE Act, eight of which were forcriminal possession of a firearm.

Chemung County Sheriff Christopher Moss, the Republican lieutenant governor candidate last year, opposed the law, and state records showed no arrestsunder the SAFE Act in the county.

“It’s not high on my list of priorities,” said Moss, say-ing he’s focused on other crimes and the area’s heroin

problem. There were six SAFE Act arrests in TompkinsCounty.

Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley, aDemocrat, said the county routinely uses the criminalpossession of a firearm felony charge when a defen-dant illegally has an unregistered handgun, even if it isunloaded — something that wasn’t possible before thelaw.

“Though the SAFE Act has garnered a great deal ofdebate in our state, its use in Monroe County has beenlimited to enhancing, rather than initiating, the prose-cutions of violent criminals already facing serious felo-ny charges,” she said in a statement.

Cuomo has called the SAFE Act one of the main accomplishments of his first term, and Democrats whocontrol the Assembly have also praised the law.

The law requires guns to be registered, strengthensan assault-weapons ban and mandates that mental-health professionals report potentially violent patientswho may be gun owners. About 34,000 people were reported as too dangerous to have guns, the New YorkTimes said in October.

“After Sandy Hook when we saw the massacre andwe saw the children killed and we said, ‘Enough isenough with this lunacy of guns,’” Cuomo said in his inaugural address Jan. 1as he took a second term. “Youneeded a big state to pass sensible gun control. Who didit? The state of New York did it. We did it first. That iswho we are.”

Senate Republicans hold an outright majority, andseveral new GOP members beat Democrats in the Nov. 4 elections in part because of their opposition tothe gun law.

Assemblyman Bill Nojay, R-Pittsford, Monroe Coun-ty, said gun-rights groups focused on five Senate races,and Republicans won them all, including beating threesitting Democrats -- in the Rochester area and Hudson

Valley -- who backed the law.“There’s no question that the anti-SAFE Act voters

had significant impact in all five races,” he said.Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau

County, who voted for the law, said he is open tochanges, but didn’t think Cuomo would go along. Stateleaders did make some minor changes after the lawtook effect, including exemptions for current and retired police officers.

“The reality is that the governor is not going tochange the SAFE Act and the Assembly is not going tochange the SAFE Act,” he said. “But if there are thingsthat can be done in a positive way, I would be suppor-tive.”

Critics said the law needs an overhaul. There havebeen questions about the effectiveness of the mental-health reporting requirements, and a database the stateis creating for background checks on ammunition saleshas not been operational.

Meanwhile, State Police have refused to release sta-tistical information on the number of new pistol per-mits or how many assault weapons have been regis-tered under the law. The state claims the information isprivate, although the state Committee on Open Govern-ment has disagreed.

Supporters of the law said they too would be open torevisiting the law, particularly to make it stronger. Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh, D-Manhattan, said itcould be strengthened in domestic-violence cases, aswell as add a safe-storage provision.

“It was a very good bill, but no bill gets the law per-fect,” Kavanagh said, “and there may be changes thatwe want to make, and more importantly there may beadditional things we can do to keep New Yorkers safe.”

Contact Joseph Spector at jspector@gannett.com.Follow him on Twitter @GannettAlbany.

ReformsContinued from Page 1A

to troops and veterans as part of the Holidays for Heroes campaign of the American Red Cross.

“Sophie collected more cards than some entire chap-ters. When she commits to something, look out,” saidJoel Robinson, executive director of the Finger Lakeschapter of the American Red Cross.

Just before Christmas, Sophie visited the Bath VAMedical Center and hand-delivered some cards. “TheVA was very exciting. I got to see some veterans opentheir cards and see them smile,” Sophie said.

Points of Light celebrates people who “inspire, equipand mobilize people to take action to change the world,”

according to its website. Sophie was nominated for theaward by Susan Pirozzolo, community informationspecialist for the Horseheads Central School District.

“This precocious changemaker set a goal and ralliedher community around a cause to show military mem-bers that others are thinking about their sacrifice. Thatmakes Sophie Kartzman a Daily Point of Light,” thePoints of Light website states.

“I was speechless,” Sophie said of the award.“Sophie is a lovely young lady,” Robinson said. “Peo-

ple always talk about worrying about the next genera-tion, but people like her give you faith in the next gener-ation.”

Sophie remains inspired to volunteer and plans tocollect 15,000 cards next year, she said.

“Volunteering is an amazing thing to do. You canmake a real difference,” she said. “I never dreamed Iwould have this impact.”

In 2013, Sophie and a friend began their card cam-paign by creating 250 handmade cards themselves forthe Holidays for Heroes campaign. Earlier this year,the raised the goal and recognized they would need helpfrom the community.

“The ability to grasp that concept, along with hercommitment and vision, and bring that to a broad groupof people, children and adults, is amazing,” Joel said ofSophie. “She didn’t come this way by accident; the Kart-mans should write a parenting book. They’ve taught herthat she can make in impact in her community andthat’s a wonderful thing to learn at her age.”

Jennifer Kingsley is a staff writer for the Star-Gazette.Call her at (607) 271-8280 or send an email to jkingsley@stargazette.com. Follow Jennifer on Twitter@SGJenniferK.

AwardContinued from Page 1A

continuing to take home the same caloric-dense foodsthey had been consuming during the holidays.

The result, researchers say, is a 9 percent jump incalorie purchases after the holiday season ends.

“People are a lot more willing to add health food totheir diet than they are willing to give up the lesshealthy food,” said David Just, a professor of behavior-al economics at Cornell University’s Dyson School andco-author of the study.

As part of the study, researchers tracked the groce-ry store spending behaviors of 207 households in the

Utica area during a seven-month period. Researchersestablished a baseline from July to Thanksgiving, andthen, as expected, saw food purchases spike by 15 per-cent from Thanksgiving until the end of the year.

“People do that because it’s tradition; it’s what wedo,” Just said about the holiday period filled with feasts,sweets and other food-centric activities. Of that increase in food purchases, only about 25 percent wasconsidered healthy based on a nutritional rating systemused by the participating grocery stores.

Once the holiday season ended, researchers foundthat instead of food purchases ramping down as mightbe expected, the amount of calories put in the cart actu-ally jumped considerably.

“When New Year strikes we have this resolution: wewant to lose weight, we want to change,” Just said. “It’s

really hard to get rid of those bad foods at that point.”Just said shoppers want to take a visible action

toward fulfilling their intentions to eat healthier, sothey add to their cart more fruits and vegetables thatthey know they should eat, while still loading up on thesame food they had been purchasing during the holidayseason.

One way to avoid the trap is to make a list and stickwith it, Just said. If while shopping you want to add inextra fruits and vegetables, go for it, he said, but don’tfall for the temptation of adding in the less healthychoices.

“When you’re loading up on pies, or ice cream, orcookies, or sausage, or whatever else that might be,stick to your list,” he said.

Follow Matthew Hayes on Twitter @IJmhayes.

FoodContinued from Page 1A

WASHINGTON — Westchester Medical Center and theUniversity of Rochester Medical Center should learnwithin several weeks how much federal officials will reimburse them for serving as Ebola treatment cen-ters.

Westchester Medical Center spent about $2.5 million on a containment room, protective equip-ment, testing equipment, training and other expenses,according to spokeswoman Kara Bennorth.

The University of Rochester Medical Center esti-mates it has spent $700,000. UR also is seeking up to$2.75 million to purchase a separate containment trail-er, according to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Schumer said the money is part of more than $4 million spent by five medical centers north of NewYork City that the state has designated as Ebola treat-ment centers.

The other three are Erie County Medical Center andWomen and Children’s Hospital, both in Buffalo, andUpstate University Hospital in Syracuse.

The state Health Department also has directed allhospitals in the state to increase their medical readi-ness, even though they’re not among the 48 federallydesignated Ebola treatment centers around the coun-try.

“These hospitals spent an average of $25,000 to$40,000 each,’’ Schumer said. “If you are a smaller hos-pital in one of our not-so-large cities in upstate NewYork, that’s a lot of money. We have 87 hospitals north ofNew York City and for many of them, $40,000 is a lot ofmoney, especially if it wasn’t budgeted for.’’

Four medical centers in New York City and theNorth Shore System LIJ/Glen Cove Hospital on Long

Island are part of the federally designated system.Only one — Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan —has treated an Ebola patient.

New York City alone spent about $30 million, accord-ing to Schumer.

Congress approved $700 million last month for reim-bursing local Ebola preparedness costs.

Schumer said he recently asked Health and HumanServices Secretary Sylvia Burwell to use her discretionunder that legislation to include state-designated Ebolatreatment centers and other community hospitalsamong those qualifying for federal reimbursements.

“While the Ebola headlines have largely faded, thecosts of Ebola preparedness have not,” Kenneth Raske,president of the Greater New York Hospital Associa-tion, said in a statement. “Any one of New York’s Ebolatreatment centers may be called into action in a moment’s notice, and they continue to incur enormousongoing Ebola training, plant, and equipment expenses.’’

Contact Brian Tumulty atbtumulty@gannett. com.Follow him on Twitter @NYinDC.

Federal government to reimburseN.Y. hospitals for Ebola prepBRIAN TUMULTYWASHINGTON BUREAU

‘While the Ebola headlines have largely

faded, the costs of Ebola preparedness

have not.’

KENNETH RASKEPRESIDENT OF THE GREATER NEW YORK HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION