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Print this ArticleHEY NEW YORK: REGISTRATION IS CONFISCATION12-18-2013 8:22 pm – NY2AGrassroots.com
The SAFE Act registration deadline is fast approaching in New York State. And make no mistake: Registration is confiscation.
We are winning the information war and building a network to influence the 2014 election cycle. The number of anti-SAFE Act signs on lawns grows daily. We are scheduling community forums for January and February across the state. And the governor and his minions have come to expect us to protest his public appearances and even some of his private ones.
But there is danger ahead!
Registration will happen in two ways.
The first is that those who register their so-called “assault weapons” will NEVER be able to sell them within the borders of New York State. They will NEVER be able to bequeath them to loved ones in New York through their estate. Those weapons MUST be sold out of state or turned over to police for destruction upon their owner’s death. This went into effect the moment Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the SAFE Act on Jan. 15, 2013. An entire category of firearms, which in nearly all of the United States are considered to be “in common usage,” but are defined by certain mostly cosmetic characteristics, will be eliminated within just a couple generations. It is long-term confiscation.
The second is much more sinister. The idea that registration leads to confiscation is an oft-spoken mantra among those in the gun rights community. And it is often dismissed as paranoia by the gun control crowd.
But it is not. A precedent exists for it right here in the Empire State.
In 1967, New York City passed a long-gun registry scheme that was at first touted as a sensible gun control law. It was just $ 3 to register and promises were made that it would never lead to confiscation.
The fee to register crept up over the years and one day, by the stroke of a pen, many of those long guns were deemed illegal. Their owners were ordered to turn them over or remove them from New York City. The effects of this are still being seen today.
The really sinister part is that when the state’s enforcers have lists, going door-to-door to confiscate is not beyond the realm of possibility. And that puts both the citizens and the agents of the state at risk. It’s happening in California.
Beginning in April, New York State residents were able to register their so-called “assault weapons” with the state of New York. Residents have until April 15, 2014 to register any firearm that meets the state’s arbitrary definitions of an “assault weapon.”
Obviously, one measure of success for Cuomo’s SAFE Act is the number of people who comply with the registry.
But with no hard numbers on how many firearms possessed in the state are considered under New York law to be “assault weapons,” as well as silence from Albany on how many such weapons have been registered, it is not clear what sort of compliance rate the Cuomo Administration is seeing. However, the refusal of the state to release the registration figures in recent months, even after several FOIL requests, makes it seem very clear the overall number of registrants is low.
An early figure that circulated on the Internet in June put the registration tally at less than 400.
At a recent gathering of current and retired state police officers, the figure of 2,800 was given. This may even sound like a high number for some people who know nothing about guns or the SAFE Act. But State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico gave an estimate of “hundreds of thousands” of “assault weapons” possessed by the citizenry. Other estimates place this figure at more than one million.
Given the fact we are in the eighth month of possible registration the compliance rate is clearly pitifully low. Good!
That’s exactly what we want.
And it’s entirely plausible that hundreds – if not more than half – of the registered “assault weapons” belong to law enforcement.
It is also known that at least one police agency – a big one – requires its members to register their “assault weapons.”
Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, a Civil Rights champion, speaking a few weeks ago on WGY-810 AM, said state police rank-and-file were ordered to register their personally-owned firearms.
There were more than 4,600 troopers in the New York State police in 2007.
From personal experience, we have seen a large percentage of personal semi-automatic rifle ownership among state troopers. The state police only recently began purchasing larger numbers of AR-15s for use by troopers in their official duties. For decades, many troopers and other law enforcement officers have bought their own long guns for duty and personal use.
When Canada enacted its ill-fated firearms registry scheme, the country saw a rush in the final few weeks before the registration deadline. It would be foolish for us not to expect a similar rush this coming March and April.
We must urge non-compliance with the gun registry at every opportunity!
When the SAFE Act was passed there were very few things gun owners could do to modify their rifles in order to avoid having to comply with the registry. But since then, numerous firearms and firearms accessories manufacturing firms have come out with a myriad of products. They are designed to weave around the new gun control laws passed in several states this year, including New York, and this is a testament to American ingenuity.
Some of NY2A’s partner groups are not advocating any modifications to avoid the state’s arbitrary “assault weapons” definition. They choose to advocate a purer form of non-compliance.
We respect and support those groups.
We also understand there are many gun owners in the state who are not willing to break the law or practice civil disobedience. While we wish that more New Yorkers were willing to engage in civil disobedience, we recognize that many who are opposed to the SAFE Act will seek the path of least resistance, while hanging onto as much of their Second Amendment right as they can.
Options to defeat the “assault weapons” registry include, but are not limited to:
open defiance,
quiet defiance,
hiding firearms,
storing firearms out of state and
modifying firearms so they don’t meet the state’s definition of an “assault weapon.”
NY2A was founded as an umbrella coalition to bring in the widest possible range of groups and individuals from across the state to defeat the SAFE Act. We garner our support from the full range of gun owners: Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative and independent. For that reason, we will not abandon those gun owners who will not break the law, nor those who will stand in open or quiet defiance of the law.
We need each other now more than ever.
Therefore, we feel a duty to educate people on all of their options but stop short of advocating a specific course of action. We are all individuals and we all must make our own personal decisions as the registration deadline approaches.
However, we will stand united in non-compliance of the assault weapons registry and the other heinous provisions of the SAFE Act.
We are hopeful the state and federal courts overseeing several legal challenges to the SAFE Act will eventually issue injunctions and ultimately rule the major provisions of the law to be unconstitutional. We are also hopeful we can continue to apply political pressure in Albany.
But until that day when our Civil Rights are validated in court or through legislative repeal, we must weather this storm. And we must defeat Cuomo and the gang of thugs who usurped our Civil Rights by not complying with their “assault weapons” registry.
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SOURCE: http://www.ny2agrassroots.com/hey-ny-registration-is-confiscation/
