New York Gun Control, 'Acting' Like Its Making People "SAFE"

April 28, 2013

New York. What an interesting place, don’t you think? What would we do without the likes of Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to keep people ‘safe’ there?

Governor Cuomo raced to enact the nation’s toughest gun control laws after the tragic incident at Sandy Hook Elementary last December. He won. He was first. He and his assembly violated their own state constitution in doing so because it was imperative that they didn’t wait even a few days for public debate or legislators’ deeper consideration. The verbiage was so poorly thought out that they didn’t even exempt law enforcement officers from the 7-round limit in their firearms ammunition magazines. They outlawed magazines containing more than 7 rounds without understanding that for many handguns there are no magazines of 7 or fewer rounds in existence. They settled on 7 rounds and other restrictions even though their initial goal, leaked by a Democratic assemblyman, was only 3 rounds. Somehow they managed to find enough sense to not let that into law.

Once their "Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act" was made law, they put it quickly into effect to much criticism and even embarrassment. They’ve acknowledged the law needs to be rewritten for the law enforcement exclusion and the non-existent 7 or fewer round magazines. They won’t increase the number of rounds but they expect all gun owners to know that they will only be lawfully allowed to load 7 rounds into their 10-round magazines. I think there may be an exception for when you’re at a shooting range. But what about in your own home? I haven’t heard that an exception will exist for that. It’s hard to know because the same urgency with which they passed bad law is not being applied to fixing its known defects. But that urgency is being applied to applying the new laws to New York citizens.

There was an early arrest, just days after SAFE became law, of a Marine veteran, Benjamin M. Wassell. Though I don’t like it, I have to be fair on the topic. I don’t think what he did was wrong – because I don’t think the SAFE law is fair or just or that it’s NOT an infringement on 2^nd Amendment rights – so far as the possession and sale of so-called “assault weapons”. However, what he did was clearly illegal under the new law. And I think he knew it. I can’t imagine being in possession of these firearms in New York and not being aware of SAFE, although it’s possible he didn’t know its effective date. On that score I think he’ll be an interesting test case and challenge to the new law. I don’t think he intended to be the test case though. But even if he was able to emerge without a felony conviction or prison sentence from those charges there’s a bigger problem. The agent he sold one of the firearms to apparently told him that he had a felony domestic violence conviction against him. That was a clear violation of the law that has existed long before SAFE. Testimony of the agent would be hard enough to get past but if the agents can prove that took place with an audio recording, Wassell will be convicted. I urge my military friends to consider that before they get their gander up about a Marine veteran being unfairly persecuted. One claim is that the whole transaction is entrapment. We’ll have to let that be determined by the courts. Oh, which court? Not the local District Attorney. The Governor’s office insists that their state prosecutor handle this one.

http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/03/8710-iraq-war-hero-falls-victim-to-new-yorks-radical-safe-gun-grab-laws/

But that’s not all that’s going on in New York. While citizens have been assured that the police can ensure their safety in one of the nation’s most violent cities, there was this “oh, sh!t” moment, a SWAT officer with his so-called “assault weapon” sight installed backwards while actively engaged in a call. Oops. This article is not very kind in its brief discussion of the incident.

http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/03/6521-new-york-swat-officer-ridiculed-by-civilians-who-notice-his-rifle-scope-is-on-backwards/

Here’s a brief general article that links to the ones above and some others though it’s not particularly informative about any of them in its own right: http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/04/11444-new-york-moved-forward-with-gun-confiscation-cops-now-saying-oops/

It does mention, however, that under the new SAFE law, firearms confiscation has begun. Of course in their urgency to “do something, now” they got the wrong guy. Oops again. A case of mistaken identity caused law abiding firearms owner, David Lewis, to have his 2^nd Amendment rights withdrawn and his guns confiscated. I’ve seen this story many times in the past couple weeks from various news sources. But when I went looking for its reference for this post, I went to Google. I searched for ‘ “new York” gun confiscation erie ‘ (Erie is the county.) Google returned lots of hits. I went through the first 10 pages of the results. Yes, 10 pages. There wasn’t a single entry from CBS, NBC, MSNBC or CNN. There were a couple from Fox News and many from other sources. I wonder why that is. Why didn’t this make the liberal news? I’m not a fan of frivolous lawsuits but I don’t think this is frivolous. I hope that this denial of constitutional right hurts New York financially. Maybe in Bloomberg’s generosity he’ll just write a check to cover Cuomo’s mistakes. Here’s the story:

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/04/11/new-york-state-police-confiscate-gunsfrom-the-wrong-guy-n1564985

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/11/flaws-revealed-in-ny-safe-act-after-state-resident-has-gun-license-wrongly/

Here’s what one Republican New York state senator had to say about the SAFE law: “While I am alarmed by New York’s idiotic and unconstitutional actions, I am not surprised. Confiscating the legal firearms of law abiding, taxpaying residents of this state is an abomination and is exactly why this bill should have been properly vetted before it came law. There were no hearings, there was no public dialogue. All of this was done for one purpose in mind, so this Governor could score political points with a radical national constituency, and that is simply outrageous. Simply put, the ‘Cuomo for President Act’ simply isn’t working,” said Senator Greg Ball. “This bill has not and will not save a single life. Instead this broken piece of legislation will continue to violate the constitutional freedoms of good people, turning them into criminals while doing zilch about the actual criminals killing our beloved ones everyday using illegal firearms. New York must immediately suspend enforcement of these harmful SAFE Act provisions and initiate a swift and full repeal.”

http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/senator-ball-cuomo-president-act-confiscation-begins

According to these articles and the embedded audio clip in the second one, this is not an isolated case. I haven’t heard any other reports of mistaken identity, but letters are going out to New York citizens demanding they surrender their firearms without due process in a court of law. Isn’t there another Bill of Rights amendment that covers such things? I just recently re-read the Constitution and Bill of Rights. If memory serves, I think there is. Maybe it doesn’t apply in New York.

http://www.examiner.com/article/state-of-new-york-reportedly-confiscating-firearms-from-citizens

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/09/a-form-of-gun-confiscation-has-reportedly-begun-in-new-york-state-heres-the-justification-being-used/

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May 2, 2013

Here's the latest on New York's "SAFE" embarrassment - another exemption they forgot to make in their urgent fury to pass legislation quickly instead of intellectually, logically or with "common sense" or "reason". This one could cost the state millions in lost revenue from the movie and television industry.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/nyregion/studios-fret-that-new-yorks-gun-laws-could-hamper-film-production.html

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May 13, 2013

Another citizen turned criminal due to New York's "SAFE" law.

Did those extra 2 bullets in his ammunition magazine somehow threaten anyone? Or were they 2 more chances that he'd be able to protect himself, his property or others?

From the link, below:

GUN GRAB IN FULL SWING, DUTCHESS MAN ARRESTED FOR HAVING 9 BULLETS

Posted by Greg Ball on Monday, May 13th, 2013

Brewster, N.Y. – (5/13/2013) – Senator Greg Ball (R,C,I-Patterson) Chairman of the Senate Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Committee issued the following statement in regards to the recent reports of a Dutchess County man being arrested for violating the “NY SAFE Act”.

Gregory D Dean Jr., 31, of Hopewell Junction, was pulled over on Sunday evening in New Lebanon because the vehicle’s license-plate lamp was not working. Troopers found Dean with a legally registered pistol with a magazine that contained nine bullets, two more than the recently passed “SAFE Act” allows. Police charged Dean with unlawful possession of certain ammunition feeding devices, third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation and other vehicle infractions.

“This is a very sad day for all fair minded New Yorkers who believe in justice and value freedom. Here we see the full effect of our actions as the SAFE Act turns a law abiding citizen into a criminal. This didn’t save a life, this just destroyed one man’s life,” said Senator Greg Ball. “I continue to plead with this Governor to please allow the common sense changes to this bill, that are obviously necessary.”

For more information, please contact Joe Bachmeier: (845) 200-9716.

http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/gun-grab-full-swing-dutchess-man-arrested-having-9-bullets

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July 23, 2013

Here's the latest development regarding the arrest of Gregory Dean Jr in violation of New York's "Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE)" law for having 9 bullets loaded in his magazine, 2 more than allowable under SAFE.

This is a 6:52 video about Dean's situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjUaQJj1aDE

I didn't realize until watching the video that Dean is a Marine Corps veteran. It has no bearing on his arrest or situation but adds color to the story.

Here's a short article about it that also has the same video embedded. I particularly like this paragraph:

"So how is the law making New York safer? Simply put: it’s not. [Jonna] Spilbor [Dean's attorney] says she has yet to see a direct correlation between the SAFE Act and keeping New York citizens safer. After all, criminals already don’t care about laws. And [District Attorney Paul] Czajka echoed that point when he said that having been a prosecutor, D.A., judge and public defender, he doesn’t ever remember a criminal checking what the latest statute was before he or she decided to commit a crime. “The only conclusion you can draw [about the law] is that it’s about an agenda,” Spilbor said."

Okay, I guess I like the part about DA Czajka exercising his discretion and choosing NOT to prosecute Dean even better. It proves there actually is SOME "common sense" and "reason" in the world surrounding firearms - just not among gun control advocates.

Thank you, Mr. Czajka. Let's hope this is the first of many defeats of New York's SAFE law. Or that it's the first of few - provided that one of those defeats is the repeal of SAFE.

http://bearingarms.com/video-ny-safe-act-creates-a-new-class-of-criminals/

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Related blogs:
http://us2ndamendment.blogspot.com/2013/04/new-york-gun-control-acting-like-its.html
New York Firearms Blogs