20 PERCENT OF NY HANDGUN OWNERS HAVE REFUSED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAW

Why all the hate for NY's new handgun registration law?

by Lauren Rosenthal

NCPR
February 1, 2018

ALBANY, NY -- Jan 31, 2018 — Today is the official deadline for thousands of handgun owners to register those guns with New York State Police. It's part of a new process called 're-certification.' By law, anybody who fails to contact state police and share updated information about their firearms could face criminal charges.

State police tried to tell gun owners about this a year in advance, mailing out close to 375,000 letters to those affected by the law. But North Country Assemblyman Marc Butler says that wasn’t enough time. He’s now trying to convince the governor’s office to delay the deadline until 2019.

Butler told NCPR it’s the best he can do for constituents who are angry about this new requirement. "Look, I live in the shadow of Remington Arms," Butler said. "I’m surrounded by this culture and those are the people that are talking to me and sharing their thoughts with me. I feel their views on this issue have to be represented."

So exactly what are people so angry about? Lauren Rosenthal went to the Albany Gun Show to find out.

Confusion reigns: "Do I have to register?"

Every so often, a disembodied voice blared through the loudspeaker at the convention center: "Please enjoy your time at the Albany Gun Show and be safe."

The Albany Gun Show kicked off on a Saturday in the middle of January, just a few blocks from the state capitol. Beyond all the folding tables stacked with rifles and holsters, Tom King was handing out pamphlets.

As president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association — the state's NRA affiliate — King said he spent most of the day answering the same question. "People are saying, Do I have to register or don’t I have to register? So yeah," King said. "There is a lot of confusion."

The confusion is about why the state is collecting people's information for a new handgun database, King said.

What was the point of a registry?

The database has actually been on the books since 2013. Just after the Sandy Hook School shooting, a lot of states passed tougher gun control measures. New York passed the SAFE Act, which banned most assault weapons and set up new systems for tracking who has what guns.

At the time, Governor Andrew Cuomo described them as innovative. "We’ll have for the first time a statewide handgun database that will allow the state, allow local officials to check periodically," Cuomo said.

Only one other state has a system like this – California – and it’s gotten mixed reviews. New York’s will work a little differently, by funneling gun owners' information into a central system at the time they obtain a pistol permit. They'll have to renew their registration every five years after that. (California has no renewal process.)

According to the New York State Police, law enforcement will scan hundreds of thousands of legally-licensed handgun owners against criminal records, mental health files, and restraining orders. Back when he was introducing this idea, Cuomo said it could help prevent tragedy.

"You don’t want criminals and people who are mentally ill to have guns," Cuomo said.

Voices from the backlash: "Is this Communist China?"

Cuomo's message made sense to a lot of people — especially in urban areas, where the SAFE Act has been popular. But in rural areas, the law has come under attack by lawmakers, county sheriffs, and many gun owners. That pushback only intensified as the first big registration deadline drew near.

At the Albany Gun Show, Ray Kosorek lit into lawmakers who approved the handgun database. "Where do we live? Is this Communist China or is this the state of New York in the United States of America?"

Kosorek recently helped start the New York chapter of Gun Owners of America, a hard-line gun rights group that's been described as a more extreme version of the NRA. Kosorek and a few others came to Albany to recruit more members and gather support for lawsuits. Their goal, Kosorek said, is to take down the SAFE Act. "We’re a grassroots organization fighting for our Second Amendment rights, which have been infringed upon," Kosorek said.

Near Rochester, talk radio host Bill Robinson has been making the same argument for weeks on WSYL's "The Second Amendment Show." "The government shouldn’t have master lists of us gun owners and the specific guns we have," Robinson said during a recent broadcast. "They don’t need it."

Fear of punishment: "You can't make them criminals."

A lot of gun owners are angry. While many would agree that bad guys shouldn’t have guns, there's a fear that New York is trying to turn them into those bad guys. It goes back to the penalties associated with this registration process. The SAFE Act says failing to register means the handgun permit is automatically revoked — which can lead to felony charges.

"You just can’t do that to people that live in your state that are lawful gun owners," said Tom King. "You can’t make them, overnight, criminals."

But New York State Police spokesman Beau Duffy said a lot of these concerns about criminalizing gun owners have been overblown. "We’re not gonna take criminal enforcement action," Duffy said. "Particularly with those people who were unaware of this re-certification process."

So no felony charges, Duffy said. At least, not now. State police have said they'll accept late registration forms throughout 2018.

A lack of trust from gun owners

I asked a couple different gun control advocates what they think about the state deciding not to enforce this part of the law just yet. Paul McQuillen, upstate coordinator for New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, said it’s actually okay — so long as the database gets built.

"We’re out to stop the senseless killings of schoolchildren and people in churches and those at concerts," McQuillen said. "We’re not out to disarm anybody. And we take that very, very seriously."

McQuillen said his group and others like it just want smart gun laws that help prevent more atrocities. But research shows there’s a clear, unintended consequence: laws that restrict access to guns have often led to a bump in gun sales overall. (It appears to work both ways: Donald Trump expressed broad support for gun ownership on the campaign trail and secured an endorsement from the NRA. After Trump was elected president in 2016, FBI background checks — which some states require for gun buyers — dropped sharply compared to the year before.)

Based on the latest numbers, more than 81,000 people – or 20 percent of affected handgun owners in New York – still haven’t registered those guns. Duffy said forms will be accepted over the next year, and that it’s better for people to register late than not at all.

Anybody who obtained a pistol permit after the SAFE Act became law in 2013 is already in compliance with this registration requirement. They will be required to register again five years from the date their permit was issued, and every five years after that.