An unlikely gunslinger from the Bronx makes his living teaching New Yorkers to be straight shooters.

Gerald Preiser still remembers that special thrill of standing on the rifle range at Camp Chippewa, squinting through the sights at a target in the distance, squeezing the trigger and finding his shots tightly grouped in the bull’s eye.

When he became a counselor at the same camp, Preiser bought his first pistols--a matched, circa 1911, pair of .45-caliber automatics--and an instruction book.

“I literally went up on a mountain. It was almost a religious type thing, and I memorized the book and I taught myself to shoot to the point where after two or three summers, I was able to make cans dance at 25 or 30 feet with either hand,” he reminisced of his camp days in New Hampshire almost 40 years ago. “To this day, I do trick shots like splitting a business card edgewise at 25 feet with either hand holding a gun.”

Nice Bronx Boy

So what was a nice boy from the Bronx, whose family never owned a gun, doing standing on a mountain playing John Wayne? After all, most of the other people at Camp Chippewa were playing softball and making lanyards.

Preiser was preparing to make a living. And thanks to the pervasive fear of crime in New York City, it’s been a very good living, indeed.

He still packs a .45 in his holster. Preiser, 55, is one of New York’s leading shootists--and a principal conduit for obtaining pistol licenses from the Police Department.

He runs advertisements in newspapers promoting his services. Every week, he also mails 40,000 leaflets to prospective gun owners, playing on their fear of crime. “Warning!!! Failure to Read Contents May be Hazardous to Your Health” the pamphlet’s cover proclaims. When readers open it, they see a drawing of a handgun, resembling a .45-caliber pistol, and the question: “Why be a victim?”

New York City is a fertile field for such sentiments. The rate of violent crime has risen steadily in the past several years. Despite the Sullivan Law, perhaps the toughest handgun licensing law in the nation, more than 2 million illegal weapons are at large. Shelves of law enforcement vaults are weighed down with confiscated guns.

Lengthy Procedure

Seeking a legal pistol permit in New York is a costly ($164), complicated, difficult procedure requiring not only fingerprints but extensive documentation. That’s where Preiser comes in. For a fee of $400, he will steer applicants through the process, coaching them for an interview with the police. The fee includes a year’s membership and safety instruction at the West Side Rifle and Pistol Range, where Preiser is co-owner.

Some 70,000 people are legally licensed to own handguns in New York City. About 28,000 shooters, mostly retired police officers, hold a full-carry permit, permitting a concealed pistol to be worn anywhere. According to Preiser, about 70% of those applying for full-carry permits are rejected. The reasons range from close proximity to a bank even if cash deposits are regularly made, to failure to show the applicant’s business is the type generally held up by armed robbers.

Police also issue lesser licenses. A target license allows a person to carry an unloaded handgun in a locked hard container to the range. A premises license grants permission to keep a pistol at home or at business.

Different Treatment

“Part of my aggravation (about the licensing process), and I have been moaning and groaning about this for years, is that the rich and the famous are treated better than the bodega owner . . . who has been beaten over the head several times and will probably get turned down for a full carry,” complained Preiser. “These other fellows who don’t collect rents and are not going into high-crime neighborhoods will uniformly get their full-carry licenses.”

Several years ago, Preiser used his own pistol to stop his car from being robbed.

As he was leaving his target range late at night, he saw two men busily removing the CB radio from his auto. Preiser walked over, slouched like a tired businessman. When he drew close, he “made like the Lone Ranger,” whipping out his automatic.

“I said: ‘Freeze, guys!’ I held them for the police.”

The robbers weren’t armed, but they had a shopping bag full of radios they had stolen from other cars on the block. It turned out they were wanted on previous felony charges and ended up spending time in prison.

Preiser cheerfully describes his own attitude on a broad range of social issues as “to the right of Attila the Hun.” He says he has a strong nostalgic streak for the America of shoot-’em-up Western movies.

He also is a potent pro-gun lobbyist. As president of the Federation of New York State Rifle and Pistol Clubs, he periodically hands out well-publicized “Courageous Citizens Awards” to people who have used pistols in self-defense. Some critics have labeled these, usually $500 awards, “blood money” for vigilantes.

He also keeps a mailing list of 50,000 firearms enthusiasts in New York state, which he sells to politicians who are against gun control.

“The leadership of the city and the state have failed dramatically,” he charged as a shooter blasted away with a pistol on the target range the other day. “ . . . They have failed to protect people on the streets, in their homes, on the subways and buses.”

When his duties keep him out late at night, Preiser prudently phones home first. “It’s me, sweetheart,” he announces.

His wife is a crack shot--and he never wants to be mistaken for a burglar.