Wow, how'd you guys find this?! Funny thing is, Vic Ferrante was the instructor who taught my "Handgun Safety Class" back in 1996 when I was applying for my NYS carry permit. He seemed like a decent guy too. I would be willing to bet his quote in the Times Union was at least partly taken out of context. I don't remember him saying anything about handguns being useless for defense back in '96. To the contrary, I am fairly sure part of his class had to do with safe defensive gun handling in the home!
So either he had a change of heart for the worse, or the newspaper twisted what he said to fit their typical BS agenda. Personally, I'll bet on the latter. He NEVER "advised" people to not have a handgun! I hate the media.
Now for that Guenther guy, I don't know who he is or what he does, and I don't give a crap. He sounds like a POS who has no business telling new gun owners anything! He can take his big, mean cat and stick it where the "sun don't shine".... because if some crook breaks into his house, you better believe that's where HE'S gonna shove that stupid cat!