By Greg Campbell
TPNN Contributor
The ink was hardly dry on the sweeping gun control legislation signed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo before people began discussing the active resistance by citizens who plan to disobey the gun control measures.
Owners of weapons deemed “assault weapons” in New York State have until April 15th 2013, to register their weapons with the state authorities. However, many within the Empire State have already begun to mount a resistance to the edict, noting that gun registration is just the first step by government to obtain information on who has what guns; the second step, they claim, is gun confiscation- a measure Governor Cuomo has stated is a distinct possibility.
“Preparations are already being made for mass resistance. ‘I’ve heard from hundreds of people that they’re prepared to defy the law, and that number will be magnified by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, when the registration deadline comes,’ said President Brian Olesen with American Shooters Supply, among the biggest gun dealers in the state, in an interview with the New York Post.
Even government officials admit that forcing New Yorkers to register their guns will be a tough sell, and they are apparently aware that massive non-compliance will be the order of the day. ‘Many of these assault-rifle owners aren’t going to register; we realize that,’ a source in the Cuomo administration told the Post, adding that officials expect ‘widespread violations’ of the new statute.
Threats of imprisoning gun owners for up to a year and confiscating their weapons are already being issued by governor’s office, headed by a rabid anti-Second Amendment extremist who suggested before the bill passed that ‘confiscation’ of all semi-automatic rifles was being considered. If tens or even hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens refuse to comply, however, analysts say New York would either have to start raising taxes and building a lot more prisons, or give up on the scheme that experts say will do nothing to reduce violence and that lawmakers say is aimed at eventual confiscation.
Activists involved in the state-wide boycott against the unconstitutional statute who spoke to the Post almost taunted authorities, saying gun owners would essentially dare authorities to ‘come and take it away.’ According to the paper, leaders of some of the state’s hundreds of gun clubs, dealers, and non-profit organizations, citing the New York Constitution’s guarantee that gun rights ‘cannot be infringed,’ are currently involved in organizing the resistance. Among the primary concerns is that, with registration, authorities would know where to go for confiscation, an idea already proposed openly by Governor Cuomo himself.”
The NRA, while noting that they do not get involved in campaigns to resist the law, stated that they weren’t surprised by the resistance. NRA President David Keene claimed that such gun registration protocols in America and in Canada are often met with staunch resistance. Keene finished by saying, “I think it’s going to be very difficult for the governor to get mass compliance with this new law.”
New York is an interesting place for the installment of strict gun control policies; New York state law specifically outlines that the right to keep and bear arms “cannot be infringed”- a stronger wording than America’s Second Amendment which states that such a right “shall not be infringed.”
As tensions mount in the gun rights struggle, it is not only citizens that have mounted their own resistance to stricter gun control laws. State officials and county sheriffs across the country have declared that they will refuse to enforce any federal gun laws that violate the Constitution.
