The State of New York just convened an emergency session and dropped a whole bunch of new gun restrictions on us. NY did this explicitly to punish 2A supporters in our state. They are mad that their ridiculous and unconstitutional "may issue" provision got struck down by the Supreme Court (and they're probably mad about the Dobbs decision also), and they lashed out. It's a garbage law and it's going to get shot down. But that's going to take years, and meanwhile those of us who live here are going to have to suffer under it.
New York approves gun law requiring buyers to provide social media handles
Below are some initial reactions based solely on the article above and a quick read of
a summary the legislation. I may adjust the below perspective after I dig more into the law myself.
The State of NY, whose elected officials are constantly
under the microscope for moral and criminal offenses, and whose most recent elected governor governor had to
resign in disgrace over a series of sex scandals, is going to verify **my** character and conduct? lol... no. Who is going to verify THEIR character and THEIR conduct?
Character is such a loaded word, and such a subjective characteristic. What is going to be a disqualifying characteristic in NY, being a registered Republican? Re-tweeting Daily Wire posts? This is ripe for potential abuse. And what does "list of social media accounts" even mean? My accounts are private and semi-anonymous, good luck finding out anything there. Or are you expecting me to give you my usernames and passwords too? I didn't even have to do that for my top secret security clearance. In any case, fuck right on off with that noise.
Character references isn't new, I was asked for that when I applied for a permit the last time I lived here. In fact, that's what stopped me from completing the process. Four character references? Fuck you, it's none of anyone else's business if I want to legally own a handgun or not. That's between the state and me. Plus the references have to be notarized, which is another haze and (unless you have free access) another expense (x4) for the applicants. And what are these references going to be used for? Can someone sue a referrer if the applicant later shoots someone illegally? It's just another time consuming haze, and I'm embarrassed to say that in my case it worked. It's completely useless and serves only to make the process more difficult, expensive, and time consuming.
And turn over social media accounts and contact information for adults living in my household?? Double fuck you. My 18-year-old daughter is not a party to my pistol permit application, and her social media is DEFINITELY not the business of the State of New York.
So now business owners get to arbitrarily decide whether or not to deprive someone of their rights?? Pretty sure we already decided some cases about this... Making property owners affirm 2A rights in their establishments is a clear attempt at intimidation of businesses, as it would actively discourage patrons from going there, and would set them up for lawsuits if anything involving weapons occurs on the premises. And if I do eventually get a permit and I walk into a place that doesn't explicitly confirm my constitutional rights, I'm suddenly a felon? Wow.
So on top of government-created ammo shortages, now they're going to track how much ammo I buy when I am actually able to find it? Again, what is it you think you're going to do with this information, and how long is it going to be before you start making me account for each and every bullet? This is another attempt at intimidating, inconveniencing, and harassing gun owners. Right before I moved to NY the first time, a newspaper took it upon themselves to r
elease the names, addresses, and a convenient map of registered gun owners, opening them up to harassment and potential targeting. The same thing is going to happen with this new registry.
Furthermore, registration is often the first step towards confiscation, as evidenced by what happened in CT (where I came from before I moved to NY for the first time) over AR-15s. Moreover, its what far-left liberals similar to the ones running this state
ultimately want to do with guns.
I'm pretty pissed off about these new laws but right now there's not a whole lot I can do other than comply while I figure out what the best way for me to legally contribute to the process of getting this ridiculousness overturned.