NY "Martial" Law

[Phil Redmond]

New York martial artists should read this.
http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A04415&sh=t

[jo]

All those folks at 440 Lafayette Street are gonna be closed down?

Are all those Tiger Schulman joints gonna close?

Who is gonna go into the Lodge on Mott Street or over the bookshop on Bayard and say "You can't teach MA"??????

A toothless bill introduced by a douchebag of epic proportions.

[Phil Redmond]

I don't think Hung Mun is going to care one way or the other...grin

[mono68]

Can this be possible ? if so how will the other states respond to the MA communities in their states.

[lkfmdc]

I did try to warn people about this also, I got a bunch of "just go underground" type responses

the proposed bill is here
http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A04415

This will effect EVERY martial art school in the state.
This bill was introduced by Robert A. Straniere. His personal web page can be found at
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=062

Robert A. Straniere
DISTRICT OFFICE
182 Rose Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10306
718-667-0314

He also has email that you can send him from that page, send him a note saying that the last thing New York needs is more regulation and putting people out of work through over regulation and lord knows what sort of licensing...

Use this page
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/
if you are a NY'er to find your representative and also send them a note

to make things even easier, there are several NYC area people on the committee reviewing the legislation, all of us should get people to call them

Deborah Glick
853 Broadway, Suite 2120
New York, NY 10003
212-674-5153

Richard Gottfried
242 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001
212-807-7900

Nick Perry
942 Utica Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203
718-385-3336

Scott Stringer
230 West 72nd Street, Suite 2F
New York, NY 10023
212-873-6368

If you have students in their districts, even better as they will VOTE for them, or NOT as the case may be

call and email them, and if you aren't a NY'er I'd share my view anyway, they will feel how unpopular this is and maybe worry a little more

The bill specifically mentions licenses, specifically licenses under the dept of education. Are these licenses going to be FREE? Of course they won't. There will be "application fees", the license fee, perhaps you'll have to pay to be fingure printed, to have a background check etc. Basicly, it's yet another way, in addition to taxes, to pay the government

Background checks? OK. What about a Chinese gentleman who can't even provide you with a birth certificate because his village happened to have been burned down during World War II? Considering a lot of the top martial arts instructors are from the places these arts originated in, ie NOT the US, isn't this going to be difficult?

And what if an inquiry from the home country comes up as them having a record? Well, my lord, they are a criminal! Don't let them run a martial arts school. EXCEPT, crimes in other countries aren't what we would necessarilly call crimes here in the dear U S of A. I know someone who is not only a world champion in their sport, but the sweetest, nicest, most humane person in teh world. But they spent time in prison and are a criminal in their country. Why you ask? They are Iranian and in their country having wine is a CRIME.

Once again, I present the possibility there will be an "approved list". As you know, a law doesn't have to be fair, it just has to be a law.

[Diamond Talons]

Phil R. neither will the H'ung Muen :) lkfmdc peoples can make all the laws in the world & the question is always can they be made to be obeyed & the answer is no I think & in some ways we've always been underground if I get this thing your saying right so no big deal who cares what politics say as all they do is talk.

[lkfmdc]

You know, it is tiring listening to all this glip and kung fu movie responses about going underground

people feed their children running martial arts schools. I guess you don't care about people being put out of work.

a bunch of secret societites open to only Chinese will be able to avoid any law, but a LOT of schools can be put out of business.

[Diamond Talons]

lkfmdc I dont know what glip means but I don't mock you as you put in plenty of work on this thing no doubts all I say is peoples make laws all the time but it still a matter of making all obey these laws & you all messed up with secret groups just for Chinese as I fight long & hard to open this thing to all peoples not color craps okay. So if law goes as you say then dont call the school a martial art school call it a culture club & dont call it learning sets call it learning culture dance & its not san sau stuffs its culture partner dancing & force law makers to prove its some thing not what you call it. Dammed courts will be so stuffed with cases that nothing gets done & why not get all these peoples you say make a living off this thing together & all guys give a bit of money get a good lawyer to block this law & tie them up so they cant even get a breath okay. You say you know a hand then you take your hand as you know it & fit it to this problems as hand not just for sticking your fingers in some bad guys eyes I think.

[ZIM]

You know, it is tiring listening to all this glip and kung fu movie responses about going underground

Heh. Maybe we should start coming up with some sort of "Kungchalking" method... :p

Suppose I could start a thread and be a troll... Morbicid, Oso, GDA help meeeee!!!

[Yum Cha]

lkfmdc
Its understandable that you are very passionate on this topic.

But, you know, it wasn't untill nearly 1980 that Mainland Chinese could openly practice their martial arts, which had been considered "counter revolutionary."

I know many in my Pai spent many long years playing hide-n-seek with the Red Guard in Guangzhou.

TCM has a long history of underground survival and oppression. Remember, the Ching allegedly burned down the Shaolin Temple for a reason.

Go, organise, get your voice heard. Good luck to you. But, just take it on board that it is possible, worse come to worse, to survive and prosper.