A law with the best of intentions doesn’t make it a good law.
Such is the case with the SAFE Act, which took full effect Tuesday, April 15. From that day forward, New Yorkers may not purchase or sell “assault weapons and large capacity feeding devices.” And if you already have such a weapon, you must register it or risk being in violation of the law.
The SAFE Act is essentially Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s reaction to the mass shooting that took place on Dec. 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in neighboring Connecticut. And though we can’t fault Cuomo for wanting to take strong measures to ensure that an event such as Sandy Hook doesn’t happen here, this law – or any other law – isn’t going to prevent it from happening. All it does is add another layer of government to regulate the sale of guns.
We certainly understand the motivation behind the SAFE Act. When one person armed with a semi-automatic rifle kills 20 elementary school students and six teachers, the natural reaction by politicians is to rush into action.
That is exactly what Cuomo did. He rushed to get a bill together within one month of Sandy Hook to put an end to the sale and distribution of those types of guns in New York. Then he got the state Legislature to approve it within 24 hours of its arrival at the Capital, likely before anyone had a chance to read and absorb everything that was printed on its pages.
Cuomo’s rationalization was that he was doing this for the public’s good. Therefore, no one could fault him for taking this step.
He was wrong, though. It wasn’t long before the court challenges began, and several county sheriffs announced they wouldn’t enforce the SAFE Act. The most recent challenge ended in state Supreme Court on April 10 when Justice Thomas McNamara ruled that the SAFE Act was constitutional, and the speed at which it was passed followed state law.
However, banning the sale and distribution of semi-automatic weapons in New York doesn’t do anything to rid the public of the dangers these guns present. The guns still exist, and they can still wind up in the hands of people who mean to do harm to others. And it does nothing to prevent people from modifying their guns into semi-automatic weapons, if they so choose. All it does is eliminate the legal sale of these types of guns and forces their owners to register their weapons or else be in violation of the law, in effect, creating criminals where there weren’t ones before.
In short, it’s nothing more than a political grandstanding move by Cuomo. The SAFE Act is more about eliminating the weapon than eliminating the threat posed by some people who own these types of weapons. That doesn’t make it a good law.
We all would like to live in a country where we feel safe. The SAFE Act won’t make us feel any safer, though.