Greg Camp writes [via ammoland.com]: The badly named New York SAFE Act continues to make the life of the state’s law-abiding gun owners difficult. Residents who are deemed worthy of a pistol permit – permission to own in their homes, to carry to hunting or target shooting, or carry generally, depending on the good graces of law enforcement – that were issued prior to January 2013 must get them renewed or risk having their weapons confiscated.
Governor Cuomo believes that “when they write the history books they’re going to say, ‘New York got it right,’†whoever “they†might be – perhaps he is preparing copy for the Ministry of Truth. The state legislature predictably placed the burden of getting the word out on county law enforcement agencies, and those people who live in New York City or surrounding counties can’t use the state police website to renew.
The law was passed in a hurry over the objections of sheriffs and county clerks. The original seven-round magazine capacity limit got tossed out in court, while most of the provisions have taken effect. But many owners of so-called assault weapons in the state are refusing to register them, suggesting that the spirit of liberty is alive even in one of the worst states for gun owners.
In the same way that the USA PATRIOT Act was a knee-jerk response to 9/11, the NY SAFE Act came as an effort to look busy after the Sandy Hook school shooting, an example of politicians’ belief that punishing people who did no wrong will somehow prevent such incidents in the future.
If the non-compliance in New York isn’t enough to show that a total ban and mandatory confiscation of “assault weapons†would fail, consider the fact that there are millions of AR-15s in circulation alone, not to mention the many other models of semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines out there.
And if by some perverse miracle good people could be convinced to hand in their guns, Americans who are already criminals aren’t likely to change their ways by being asked, and enough of them specialize in bringing contraband into the country to make effective control of “assault weapons†a pipe dream. Those pipes could be filled with the drugs that are used to conceal guns as they cross the borders.
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2017/12/robert-farago/new-york-safe-act-renew-your-permit-and-register-all-your-guns-or-face-confiscation/
