After a deranged twenty-year-one-time brought unthinkable evil to Connecticut'south Sandy Claw Elementary in Dec 2012, both Connecticut and New York banned the sale of semiautomatic firearms they deem to be "assault weapons" and required owners of these guns to register them with the state.

When the borderline for gun owners to register their "assault weapons" in Connecticut expired on Dec 31, 2013, Connecticut State Law Lt. Paul Vance said he received 41,347 applications to register "assault weapons." (I put "assault weapon" in quotes considering the only way to define the term is according to what a particular gun-command law decides it ways.) There was no process for registering the guns late, then any gun owner in Connecticut with an "assault weapon" had become a potential felon as of January one, 2014.

This caused the media to wonder how many gun owners didn't annals their politically incorrect guns. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the merchandise association for firearms manufacturers, said at the time that it estimated there were likely 350,000 residents of Connecticut who had banned "assault weapons" equally of belatedly 2013. The media ran with this. Headlines announced that more than than 300,000 residents of Connecticut opted not to register their "assault weapons."

Many then asked New York State how many gun owners had registered their "assail weapons" by the April 2014 deadline set by New York's SAFE Act (the Safe Act besides considers some shotguns to be "assault weapons"). New York State refused to answer the question, but the NSSF said it estimates that nigh one million residents of New York State had so-called "assault weapons" at the time of the ban.

The numbers of gun owners who might still have "assault weapons" are not guesses. The NSSF said, "The 350,000 number is a bourgeois estimate based upon numerous surveys, consumer purchases, NICS background check data and too private party transactions." The NSSF used the same criteria to estimate that at least i million New York residents accept firearms the state banned the sale of and demanded that owners annals with the law.

When New York State wouldn't surrender the numbers, Paloma Capanna, an attorney from Rochester, New York, filed a request nether the country's Liberty of Information Law for her client Rochester radio host Beak Robinson. When that was refused, she sued. This suit finally forced the New York State Police to surrender the numbers (not the names of the people who registered their guns).

According to the country but 23,847 people registered their so-chosen "assault weapons" since the 2013 police took outcome. These people registered a total of 44,485 firearms. Then, according to the NSSF's gauge, some 976,153 New Yorkers didn't register their "set on weapons."

This ways that nearly one million New York Land residents might now be committing felonies—this has turned average, and presumably otherwise police-abiding citizens, into a class of people who are now living across the law.

On a personal note, I live in Dutchess Canton, New York. These just-released records say 731 people in my canton registered their "assault weapons" with the New York State Police. I don't know a single gun possessor who admits they've registered any of their guns; actually, if any did, they likely wouldn't admit it, as there is a profound social stigma among gun owners against registering these guns with the government.

I do know many people who have semiautomatic rifles and shotguns the state deems to be "assault weapons" they say they didn't annals. Virtually of these people continue to bring these guns to their local ranges to shoot with. When you ask them if the complied with the SAFE Human activity, they are quick to tell you that many municipalities and county sheriff departments have reported they won't enforce the Prophylactic Act in their jurisdictions.

Given all this, did turning possibly a million residents of New York State into lawbreakers solve anything? Instead of creating a new criminal class—and stoking anti-government feelings—wouldn't it have been smarter for the governor and other elected officials to have worked with gun owners to discover solutions?

Besides on Forbes: