“Since New York’s SAFE Act gun control law went into effect in January 2013, a total of 23,847 people have applied to register their newly defined assault-style weapons with the State Police,” timesunion.com reports “Those individuals have registered a total of 44,485 weapons.” As suspected, the long-delayed release of the numbers indicates an enormous display of “Irish democracy.” In other words, most of New York’s AR-style rifle owners failed to comply with the SAFE Act mandate. How many? Well . . .
While there is no firm count, observers have estimated there could have been hundreds of thousands or even a million assault-style weapons in New York when the law passed.
In Connecticut, which passed a similar registration law after New York’s action, 50,016 weapons have been registered.
New York’s population five times that of the Nutmeg State, far fewer weapons per capita have been registered in New York — suggesting widespread noncompliance.
Additionally, local police, including several county sheriffs, have opposed parts of the SAFE Act and suggested that enforcement of the registration component was not a priority.
nydailynews.com – they of the wrong gun for the Navy Yard shooting headline above – breaks it down further.
Among the thousands of people in New York state who did apply to register their assault-style weapons — a term whose legal definition was expanded to include military-style features like a pistol grip and popular civilian models of the M16 and AK47 assault rifles — about 40% of them live in the five boroughs, Long Island and Westchester County.
Within New York City, 1,640 people registered newly defined assault-style weapons in Manhattan County since the law came into effect in January 2013, while 109 did so in Queens County and 54 did so in Kings County, according to the Times Union.
Another 52 registered the weapons in Richmond County, while only 35 did so in Bronx County.
Long Island, however, appeared to have much higher rates of assault weapon registration, with 3,865 people in Suffolk County registering their weapons and 2,755 doing so in Nassau County.
In Westchester County, another 1,498 registered the so-called assault-style weapons.
The stage is set for gun confiscation- possibly in response to some fresh AR-based atrocity. Or is it? Watch this space. [h/t CO]