By N. Keith Kappel 

There are two things to do when you’ve made a political calculation that backfires. The techniques apply regardless of whether it’s a law you’ve touted that caused unintended consequences or when an appointee or elected official you supported turns out to be an embarrassment.

In the case of unintended consequences, simply unleash a barrage of statistics to support that you have done the right thing – and they don’t have to be accurate or relevant. If it’s an individual who is a problem, then circle the wagons, heap praise on the person’s accomplishments and see that they are given prestigious awards and praise.

A year after the passage of New York’s infamous SAFE Act, a spokeswoman for the governor declares that the numbers are indisputable – the SAFE Act has enabled the state to better protect New Yorkers. “There have been 1,291 charges under the new law, with 1,155 for felony firearms possession, formerly a misdemeanor, with 1,041 of these cases (81 percent) in New York City, mostly Brooklyn and the Bronx. Separately, 17,751 people have been charged this year with misdemeanor weapons possession, almost 90 percent in New York City. These charges includes other weapons such as switchblades, blackjacks and brass knuckles.” No cause and effect correlation is provided to demonstrate which components of the SAFE Act were responsible for these enforcement actions.

Said proclamation of the SAFE Act as a success is unsupported, transparent nonsense and a shallow attempt to provide cover to the governor.

Details of the felony weapons charges noted above have not been disclosed. Interestingly, the ban on so-called assault weapons didn’t take effect until Jan. 15, so I suspect the 1,291 arrests were primarily for possession of unregistered firearms, which would have occurred without the SAFE Act. Also not reported was the disposition of these cases in terms of follow-up prosecution. Law enforcement I’ve spoken with often state their frustration with weapons charges being used as plea bargaining chips. In addition, the announcement fails to provide a breakdown between firearms, switchblades, blackjacks and brass knuckles. The 17,751 number sounds like a red herring thrown in to obfuscate and pump up the law’s effectiveness.

As Nancy Pelosi said, “...we have to pass the law to find out what’s in it!” Pass it the governor did, in the dark of night with no opportunity for debate or input. The response from the public was and continues to be loud and strong – Repeal It! Note that tens of thousands of Repeal the SAFE Act signs permeate front yards across the state. In addition, 52 of 62 New York counties and 225 municipal governments have passed resolutions in opposition, and sheriffs across the state have said they will not enforce. Billboards have been placed in Albany as a constant reminder to our legislators of what upstate thinks about this legislation. Seems like a lot of folks found out what’s in the bill.

Let’s take a look at independently published crime statistics and assess where this law is directed and whom it truly affects:

• Homicides in New York state in 2011 totaled 767. Of these, only 5 were committed with a rifle of any kind and 76 percent occurred in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and New York City.
• Nationally, of 12,996 homicides in 2010, only 2 percent were committed with a rifle of any kind.
• The 1994-2004 assault weapon ban was a failure which did not contribute to a reduction in crime. Violent crime in the U.S. has continually declined from 1990 to the present – it is down 49 percent, while the number of firearms has increased by 100 percent.
• The vast majority of violent crime occurs in cities with populations of 250,000 or more and is primarily drug- and gang-related.

There is a cultural component to violent crime that the politicians want to deflect attention from because it speaks to the failure of many government policies and programs. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI.

Uniform Crime Report and the National Youth Gang Survey show that, clearly, the crime problem is primarily an inner city demographic occurring in larger metropolitan areas and are drug- and gang related. Instead of dealing with this the politicians demonize an inanimate object with an emotion charged label of assault weapon. The SAFE Act fails to deal with the real issues and instead criminalizes people for what they lawfully owned prior to its enactment. It further penalizes and encumbers the law abiding for the simple acts of buying ammunition or giving a firearm to a family member.

Key components of the SAFE Act include a ban on so-called assault weapons, a ban on magazines that exceed 10-round capacity, a requirement that firearms be loaded with no more than seven rounds, background checks for ammunition purchases, severe restrictions for firearms transfers unless a background check is performed, confiscation of private property (without compensation) from the owners upon their passing and registration with the state of ALL firearms owned by a person upon their passing.

There is no justification in any statistics or independent study to indicate any of these elements are, can be or have been effective in addressing crime or criminals. On the contrary, there is substantial evidence that these make criminals out of the law abiding. Case in point is the singular arrest for the illegal sale of a so-called assault weapon when the seller was co-opted into consummating the sale the day after rather than the day before the law took effect.

The so-called assault weapon ban is absurd on two counts. First and foremost, no one can define an assault weapon beyond certain cosmetic features. Second, such firearms are used in an insignificant number of crimes, unless you count those given by the U.S. Department of Justice to the Mexican Drug cartels.

According to the SAFE Act, a firearm is prohibited if it is a semiautomatic with a detachable magazine and any one of the following: bayonet lug, a flash suppressor, muzzle brake, barrel shroud, grenade launcher, protruding pistol grip, protruding forearm grip, thumb hole stock or adjustable stock – characteristics which have nothing to do with the function of the firearm. I had to dispose of the thumb hole stock that came with my M597 Remington target grade 22 and replace it with a standard stock to “de-Cuomo” it and avoid registration and eventual confiscation.

The SAFE Act trashes the Second Amendment rights of the law-abiding and ignores the fact that the law will not be obeyed by criminals. Unfortunately, it is not about crime and criminals, but it is about control.

(Editor’s note: Keith Kappel is a former board of directors member for SCOPE –Shooters’ Committee on Political Education.)