NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced that she has directed the operators of 16 websites that manufacture and/or sell firearms or firearms components to “cease and desist” selling nearly complete assault weapons into New York State. The possession, manufacture, and sale of assault weapons is illegal in New York, but these companies have been providing the means to violate the state’s assault weapons ban, and often specifically advertise their products as a way to evade law enforcement with phrases like, “If they don’t know you have it, they can’t take it.”There are serious problems with AG Letitia's claims. She is the one who is breaking the law, not the sellers of metal and tools. The law banning the possession of semi-automatic rifles in New York is flagrantly unconstitutional. Such rifles are in common use, are used in self-defense and defense of the home, and are shown to be far less commonly used in crime than semi-automatic pistols. She has a duty to uphold the Constitution and the Second Amendment. A court case challenging the law worked its way to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
“There is only one purpose for the products that these companies are selling — to manufacture illegal and deadly assault weapons,” said Attorney General Letitia James. “The proliferation of these types of weapons has not only caused indescribable suffering across the country, but gravely endanger every New Yorker. We must make sure that these illegal and untraceable guns are not built in New York.”
Unfortunately, the Courts have supported this flagrant infringement on the Second Amendment. Because of the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the NYR&P club decided not to pursue the case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has yet to hear the issue.
AG Letitia James is wrong in her assertion that these products only have one purpose, and that purpose is an illegal one, based on the flagrantly unconstitutional New York law.
New York banned the sale of many semi-automatic firearms, including the ubiquitous and popular AR-15 type of rifles, based on a number of cosmetic features. Here are the cosmetic features: N.Y. Penal Law § 265.00(22)
22. "Assault weapon" means
(a) a semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least one of the following characteristics:
(i)a folding or telescoping stock;
(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon;
(iii) a thumbhole stock;
(iv)a second hand grip or a protruding grip that can beheld by then on-trigger hand;
(v)a bayonet mount;
(vi)a flash suppressor,muzzle break, muzzle compensator, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor, muzzle break, or muzzle compensator;
(vii) a grenade launcher;
Anyone who is making a rifle from the partly machined aluminum paper weights can make legal rifles by making sure they do not have the features forbidden by the law. Such paper weights can be used to make rifles that are not semi-automatic.
Rifles that meet these requirements are not required to be registered in New York. People who move to New York can bring their rifles, which meet these requirements, into New York, without problems.
Any person can "make" an existing semi-automatic rifle into an "assault weapon" under New York law, simply by changing the grip, or stock or threading the muzzle. Such actions are much easier than doing the machining necessary to turn the paperweight into a functioning firearm.
The ability to make firearms is clearly part of the Second Amendment. Individuals have been legally making their own firearms for at least 500 years, which includes the entire existence of the United States.
There were no laws infringing on the making of firearms when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791.
A new infringement on the Second Amendment, such as a ban on making your own firearm, is clearly unconstitutional.
Once you try to ban the making of firearms, it becomes apparent, to have much effect, you need to make the knowledge to make firearms illegal. New York is in the process of attempting to do that. To do so, you must violate the First Amendment. From prnewswire.com:
"This has turned into a classic First Amendment case," Gottlieb said. "Only because this case involves technical information on production of firearm components on a 3-D printer have these anti-rights officials acted to squelch it. We cannot allow this to happen."Then, people trying to ban the making of firearms ban the sale of firearm parts.
Then they ban the sale of tools useful in making firearms, without special licenses.
These are things the New York State government is in the process of doing.
They are blatant violations of the First Amendment and the Second Amendment.
New York has always been an incubator for infringements on the Second Amendment.
They are one of only six states without a protection for the right to keep and bear arms in their state constitution.
They were the source of the infamous Sullivan law, where organized crime boss "Big Tim" Sullivan lobbied and had passed the handgun licensing law to protect his organized crime enforcers.
In 2016, New York was the scene of another scandal where gun permits were obtained through bribes.
The New York violations of the First and Second Amendments are wending their slow, arduous way through the courts. The Supreme Court has decided to hear one New York City case. There will be a hearing on 1 October.
Elections have consequences. President Trump's appointments to the Supreme Court could make the difference in the Court deciding to do their job, and enforce the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
©2019 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
The M-1 looks to be perfectly legal under the assault rules listed. Sometimes known as the rifle that won WW2 the M-1 was involved in thousands of assaults.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to know that my Ruger Mini-14 does not qualify as an "assault weapon" in the state of New York. Unfortunately, the proposed law for Florida is so vague and ambiguous, my .22 does qualify as an "assault weapon." smh
ReplyDeleteAIB/44
Great article, Dean! Congratulations on winning your award at the 2019 Gun Rights Policy Conference.
ReplyDeleteTom762
An old saying, Stupid id as Stupid does. there are a lot of products that have weapons grade metal in them. What stops any one from casting their own parts? Car axels, drill steel all you need is the equipment to do what needs to be done. My yard is all adobe sand, perfect for casting. I screened out two five gallon buckets just for casting. any one can learn to case harden. I used to work with a guy that started out his working career as an old fashioned black smith. I worked with top notch machinists. Just what would a new law accomplish? absolutely nothing!! And black powder guns are far more simple to make. Most of the guns used in the revolutionary war were home made on the same forge used to make horse shoes.
ReplyDeleteI have an M-1 .30 cal. carbine took my second deer with it at about 500 yards. Five round magazine for hunting, 10 round magazine for target practice and 30 round magazines for taking care of business. I think there is a total of 21 magazines and I keep them all fully loaded, with back up ammo to boot. I have a total of six scopes oops seven there is a scope on my 185 pound pull cross bow.
ReplyDelete