J.D. Tuccille on How Government Officials Doom Gun Registration Laws

In November
2013, Robert Farago of the Truth About Guns blog began publishing
letters received by gun owners in New York City demanding the
surrender of rifles and shotguns that hold more than five rounds.
While New York state recently passed the controversial SAFE Act
imposing registration and restrictions on “assault weapons” and
“high-capacity” magazines, the city law has been on the books for
years, though apparently only intermittently enforced. Amidst the
post-Newtown debate over gun control, though, Big Apple officials’
new dedication to poring over registration records and weeding out
forbidden weapons couldn’t help but fuel fears of confiscation—and
thereby spur defiance of already faltering registration schemes in
New York, Connecticut, and elsewhere. The problem for gun control
advocates, writes J.D. Tuccille, is that they keep promising that
no way will registration lead to confiscation of firearms, even as
it does just that.

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