Gun rights activists in New York hoping to extinguish a registration requirement under state law lit hundreds of forms on fire Sunday in an act of protest.
The gun activists gathered at an Elks Lodge in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to protest the state’s SAFE Act, which requires firearm owners to register semi-automatic rifles — or the state-defined “military-style assault weapons” — by April 15. Owners of such guns are required to file gun registration forms with the New York State Police.
But nearly 1,000 of those forms wound up torched Sunday as a form of “symbolic protest,” the Glens Falls Post-Star reported.
“Once the Second [Amendment] falls, the rest will go with it,” E.J. Stokes, who leads the Warren County chapter of New York Revolution, told the Post- Star. “It’s an unconstitutional law, done in the middle of the night with no input from the public.”
The SAFE Act was hastily passed last year and was signed into law by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) after only one day of debate.
Sunday’s protest was organized by the NY2A Grassroots Coalition. The group’s founder, Jake Palmateer, said the demonstration was designed to encourage New Yorkers not to register their guns.
“We are opposed to registration because the evidence is clear that registration leads to confiscation,” he said.
Palmateer added that he hopes only a few people fill out the forms so the provision “collapses under its own weight.”
The NY2A founder said that less than 3,000 assault weapons have been registered under the law thus far. State police, however, estimate there to be several hundred thousand “military-style assault weapons” in the state.
The SAFE Act’s gun registration provision is similar to one enacted in Connecticut, where gun owners are required by law to register their assault weapons. Tens of thousands of gun owners decided not to register their semi-automatic rifles, though, and only 15 percent of guns classified as “assault rifles” were registered.
Gun groups across New York plan to hold a rally at the state Capitol in Albany on April 1.
Watch scenes of the protest via a news report from WTEN-TV in Albany below.
(h/t The Blaze)
