From the frontiers of futile gun regulation, this news today from the state of New York, via the Daily News, regarding the state's post-Newtown attempt to register so-called "assault weapons":
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Fewer than 45,000 assault-style weapons have been registered in New York state since a landmark gun control act took effect in 2013… In the years since Gov. Cuomo signed the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, otherwise known as the NY SAFE Act, a total of 23,847 people have applied to register their assault-style weapons with the state, according to statistics provided by the New York State Police…. By comparison, individuals in Connecticut, a state with roughly one-fifth the population of New York, registered more than 50,000 assault-style weapons after similar legislation was passed there in April 2013. Law enforcement experts have estimated that there could be nearly 1 million assault-style weapon in circulation across the state, suggesting that many New Yorkers are ignoring what had been touted by gun control advocates as a milestone law.
Many, indeed. Sounds like about a less-than-five percent compliance rate. The Daily News has lots of breakdown of where in the state these pathbreaking, strange folk who decided to actually comply come from.
J.D. Tuccille has been on this unfolding story here at Reason for years now. Things to recall from his past coverage include the fact that governments themselves, by regularly following up registrations with confiscations, make citizens strongly inclined to violate such laws; and let's not forget the state's past attempts to keep us from having any idea how many people were complying. Now we know.
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