On Fri, 24 May 2013 21:59:52 -0700 (PDT), JohnJohnsn
<
topco...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> New York sheriffs voice opposition to strict gun law, seek to join
lawsuit
> Published May 24, 2013
> Associated Press
> ALBANY, N.Y. County sheriffs have asked to join the federal
lawsuit ch=
> allenging New York's tough new gun restrictions, calling some
provisions va=
> gue and impossible to enforce fairly.
> The New York State Sheriffs' Association and five individual
sheriffs are a=
> sking U.S. District Judge William Skretny to add their position to
the reco=
> rd. They support gun rights advocates seeking to block enforcement
of new b=
> ullet limits for magazines and the tighter definition of assault
weapons.
> The sheriffs agree with the New York affiliate of the National
Rifle Associ=
> ation that the law, passed after the Newtown, Conn., school
shooting, is un=
> constitutional because it will prevent citizens from keeping
commonly used =
> firearms for home defense.
> "The Supreme Court has confirmed that the Second Amendment protects
arms ty=
> pically possessed by law-abiding citizens, and identified that the
right of=
> self-defense is 'core' protected conduct that is at its zenith in
the home=
> ," the sheriffs' brief said. "At a minimum, laws that criminalize
the most =
> common rifle in America today - a rifle that is often selected
precisely fo=
> r its self-defense capabilities - impinge upon that core right. The
same is=
> true of laws banning standard-capacity magazines."
> The law bans magazines with a capacity of more than 10 bullets and
generall=
> y prohibits loading them with more than seven. It defines assault
weapons a=
> s semi-automatics with detachable magazines and a single
military-style fea=
> ture such as a pistol grip. The old definition required two such
features.
> The law also requires New York owners of an estimated 1 million
guns, inclu=
> ding popular versions of AR-15 rifles now reclassified as assault
weapons, =
> to register them by April 15. Since Jan. 15, it has been illegal to
sell or=
> buy those guns in the state.
> The sheriffs argued that several provisions are also "fatally
vague," measu=
> res that "law enforcement officers are inherently unable to fairly
and unif=
> ormly enforce." They urged the court to clarify "laws that will
inevitably =
> require enforcement, via confiscation, incarceration, or both,
against othe=
> rwise law-abiding individuals attempting to exercise fundamental
rights."
> Without a reliable means of distinguishing each listed assault
weapon or no=
> w-illegal magazines that "can be readily restored or converted" to
carry ad=
> ditional rounds, they said enforcement will be a problem. "The lack
of guid=
> elines in these provisions will inevitably lead to 'erratic arrests
and con=
> victions' that the due process clause was meant to prevent," they
wrote.
> Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed through the law, calling its provisions
commonsens=
> e responses to limit gun violence. That happened one month after
the Newtow=
> n shooting, which left 20 schoolchildren and six educators dead.
Police sai=
> d the 20-year-old gunman used a semi-automatic rifle and 30-round
magazines=
> .
> Defending the state, Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Ahlstrom
wrote in =
> court papers last month that the constitutional claims have no
merit. He no=
> ted the request for an injunction was filed three months after the
law pass=
gun-=
> law-seek-to-join-lawsuit/
How about a mass refusal to enforce the law. There is precedence for
that approach....re: Obama and Holder.