August 11, 2014
Earlier this year, a new gun control measure took effect in New York, called the SAFE Act, which created nearly 1,000,000 “criminals” out of law-abiding gun owners overnight.
The poorly thought out and hastily passed law instituted a ban on so-called “assault” weapons, required the registration of all firearms already owned, placed limits on ammunition sales, and put a limit of 7 rounds on firearm magazines.
But the law has been overwhelmingly rejected by gun owners, who have refused to register their guns. Law enforcement agencies and gun manufacturers have also spoken in opposition to the new law, with Remington Arms even moving most of their manufacturing out of the state in protest.
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The law was challenged in New York court, and largely upheld, but that decision has been appealed. According to the NRA, the Attorneys General of some 22 different states have joined together to file an Amicus brief in support of the challenge to the gun control law.
The states that have joined in on the appeal of the law include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
However, the Attorneys General for nine states with similar restrictive laws, plus DC, filed their own brief in support of New York’s SAFE Act. Those states are: Maryland, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Oregon.
Supporters of the law worry that the Second Amendment “ties the hands” of states trying to respond to public safety issues.
But gun rights advocates simply state that the law bans commonly owned firearms, places undue burdens on gun owners, and is an infringement of their Constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms. They say that a strict scrutiny of the law, in relation to theoriginal intent of the Second Amendment, should reveal that it is unconstitutional.
A number of law enforcement agencies and associations have also joined in the challenge of the law with Amicus briefs of their own, which makes sense, as a vast majority of law enforcement do not support more gun control, realizing instead that armed citizens actually make their jobs easier.
New York’s SAFE Act is a failure of a law, and will do nothing to make New York safer. Criminals will not voluntarily disarm themselves, or register their guns, or only place 7 rounds in their magazines, leaving only those citizens who naively abide by the law as the ones who will be inconvenienced and placed in unsafe situations.
Hopefully, this lawsuit, with it’s supportive Amicus briefs, will find success in the US Court of Appeals, and the misnamed NY SAFE Act will ultimately be struck down.
Related posts:
BREAKING: 22 States Unite in Major Stand Against Gun Control
Ben Marquis
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 17:47:11 GMT