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.
The reality that gun control advocates refuse to admit is that the only outcome of their demands would be increased harassment of people who aren’t harming anyone. It’s hard not to believe that this is exactly the purpose of such proposals.
We live in a nation that is the main stage of security theater, the promise that if we will take off our shoes to get on an airplane, hand over our drivers’ licenses to buy cold medicine, and tolerate bans and restrictions on a constitutionally enumerated right to save the children, the Millennium will arrive, and we will all be at peace.
Except that plenty of nations have strict gun control and homicide rates that are far higher than ours. And some nations with strict gun laws have rates that are lower than ours. The classic saying is that correlation doesn’t prove causation, but when correlation doesn’t exist, there certainly isn’t evidence for a cause.
This doesn’t stop the advocates of control, and it’s up to those of us who care about rights to say no, to remind our elected leaders that their jobs depend on protecting rather than violating those rights.
To Review: if you have a pistol permit in NY acquired before 2013, no matter how many years ago you received it, you need to reapply by the Jan. 31, 2018, deadline or lose your permit. Contact your local county clerk’s office and thank Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the New York SAFE Act next time he is up for vote.
PS: Did I mention that with your new application you also have to include a list of all pistols and revolvers you currently possess, including the associated make, model, caliber and serial number(s), you know for the safety of the children…
About Greg Camp
Greg Camp has taught English composition and literature since 1998 and is the author of six books, including a western, The Willing Spirit, and Each One, Teach One, with Ranjit Singh on gun politics in America. His books can be found on Amazon. He tweets @gregcampnc.
We keep all the stupid people in New York.
It’s just common sense.
2017 is almost over but we’re neck and neck for the stupid trophy this year. If only we got that ammo ban enacted in 2018.
Almost every day I find a reason to be glad that I don’t live in a fascist hell hole like NY. I will fight tooth and nail to keep their bigoted, dangerous, full retard policies from coming to my town.
Lots is out of context here.
There is no “renewal” at the county clerk. It’s a recertication (which is stupid) and it’s done through the state police.. If it was a renewal, a pistol judge would be reconsidering your license and restrictions. That’s not what’s happening.
One good thing about this is that some stubborn counties are starting to understand (thanks to the NYSP actually READING the law) that your license doesn’t expire if you move out of state. You can continue to recertify from out of state and you should still be able to amend a license from out of state.
Yes, for decades, many stupid counties thought your license was invalid when you moved out of state… morons.
As far as the areas around NYC, they don’t recertify because their licenses are 5 year licenses (since 1965) except NYC, which is 3 years.
Westchester is a local recertification.
Nassau is a money grab but no renewal application.
Suffolk is a $10 fee and a new photo by mail. So since a new background check is conducted by these local licensing authorities, no NYSP recertification is necessary because of the lifespan of those 4 jurisdictions licenses.
Only NYC makes you fill out the intrusive application for renewal, but it’s NYC, who would want to live in that toilet?
It seems as of late, TTAG are printing incendiary headlines guaranteed to get hits, and then the meat and potatoes of the story doesn’t really equate to what the headline says.
I’m not defending the recertification process, but this isn’t giving the state government any information they didn’t already have. It’s taking the existing information that was held at the county level and giving it to the State Police.
The article states: “PS: Did I mention that with your new application you also have to include a list of all pistols and revolvers you currently possess, including the associated make, model, caliber and serial number(s)…”
All of this information has been recorded when you get a pistol permit in New York State. This isn’t anything new. I hate to say it, but TTAG seems to be falling into clickbait territory more and more.
TTAG is just like all the other clickbait sites now. I only come here for the comments now.
Please north Korea, bomb new York too
I have a 7 letter statement for them…. It starts with an F and ends with an off.
All I can say is that this story reminds me to some degree of a conversation that takes place in Rogue One where K-2SO says “Why does she get a blaster and I don’t? …You’re letting her keep it!? Would you like to know the probability of her using it against you? …It’s high… It’s very high.”
I sort of get the feeling that someone says similar things to Cuomo from time to time.
What was it, like yesterday, or the day before? When I made the comment about how NY is going to start confiscations, using domestic convictions as a “warm up.” Well, Shit. Here we are. Guess I’m the next Nostradamus.
WTF? Connecticut and NY had a knee jerk reaction and wanted to out do each other… remember if you want to confiscate, you have to send in the brothers and sister of the law abiding that have suddenly been made into felons by the signature of a pen… why not send in the politicians that passed these BS laws to confiscate?
When “they” write the history books, it will be said the traitors hung by piano wire from lamp posts on street corners as object lessons in what happens to tyrants to deny citizens their rights under the constitution and seek to usurp powers, abuse the electorate and otherwise violate rule of law. They hung there so long they collapsed into piles of bones and ragged clothing the rats picked over and feral dogs dragged off.
Sic semper tyrannis.
Damn I thought Illinois sucked(it does). I don’t need a permit but I do have a FOID. And I can get a CCL. I’ve said it before that the courts may be the only savior for crappy states…
Tell the head greaseball in Albany to go phuque himself