New York State Gun Magazine Ban & Child Molesters

There are times when I am really not sure if it is just me.

Maybe I am hopelessly confused and the politicians, pundits and those on the far left end of the spectrum are actually right.

I’m trying to wrap my head around this whole revived assault weapons ban and, most specifically, the issue as it related to magazines. I am really having a difficult time and maybe some of my more enlightened readers can explain to me how this makes perfect sense.

Back in January I wrote about the political hand wringing and rending of garments that was going on in New York regarding the tragedy in Sandy Hook.

I’m a firm believer that there is an incredible amount of truth in the statement once made by Rahm Emanuel that "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”

The NYS Governor seized on the Sandy Hook tragedy to force a draconian law down the throats of every decent law abiding gun owner in New York with the same aplomb former President Gerald Ford used back in the 1970’s when he told New York City to “drop dead.”

Governor Cuomo is one of those individuals that firmly believes that he knows better than you, ala NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and therefore you just have to accept his edicts. Truth is both the Governor and Mayor suffer from hoplophobia.  It’s a term coined by the late Colonel Jeff Cooper, USMC, which describes "mental aberration consisting of an unreasoning terror of gadgetry, specifically, weapons."

So here we have the Governor and the New York State Legislature engaging in your typical political knee-jerk reaction and reaching the conclusion that they need to ban legally large capacity magazines. What they produced was the following:

It is a class D felony to manufacture, transport, dispose of, or possess a large capacity ammunition feeding device, which N.Y. Penal Law Tit. P, § 265.00(23) defines as "a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device, manufactured after September 13^th, 1994, that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than ten rounds of ammunition."

So you may be thinking to yourself “Ok, thanks for the Penal Law lesson, but seriously what are you trying to tell me?”

Here’s my point, in NYS it is now illegal for me, as a retired law enforcement officer, to possess the magazines I carried for 20 years. Mere possession of them, loaded or unloaded, is a crime. More specifically, possession of these magazines in NYS now constitutes a Class D Felony. This means, that I would be engaging in a crime that is actually more serious then all of the following:

120.70 - Luring a child | E Felony
121.11 - Criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation | A Misdemeanor
125.10 - Criminally negligent homicide | E Felony
130.20 - Sexual misconduct | A Misdemeanor
130.25 - Rape 3rd degree | E Felony
130.40 - Criminal sexual act 3rd degree | E Felony
130.52 - Forcible touching | A Misdemeanor
130.53 - Persistent sexual abuse | E Felony (repeat child molester, must be caught and convicted in two separate cases before the charges even reach this level)
130.65A - Aggravated sexual abuse 4th degree | E Felony
130.85 - Female genital mutilation | E Felony
135.05 - Unlawful imprisonment 2nd degree | A Misdemeanor
135.10 - Unlawful imprisonment 1st degree | E Felony
135.45 - Custodial interference 2nd degree | A Misdemeanor
135.50 - Custodial interference 1st degree | E Felony
135.55 - Substitution of children | E Felony (switched at birth type of thing)
135.60 - Coercion 2nd degree | A Misdemeanor
150.01 - 5th degree Arson | A Misdemeanor
150.05 - 4th degree Arson | E Felony
178.10 - 4th degree Criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions | A Misdemeanor
178.15 - 3rd degree Criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions | E Felony
220.28 - Use of a child to commit a controlled substance offense | E Felony
240.05 - Riot 2nd degree | A Misdemeanor
240.06 - Riot 1st degree | E Felony
240.08 - Inciting to riot | A Misdemeanor
240.10 - Unlawful assembly | B Misdemeanor
240.15 - Criminal anarchy | E Felony
240.20 - Disorderly conduct | Violation
240.61 - Placing a false bomb or hazardous substance 2nd degree | E Felony
250.45 - Unlawful surveillance 2nd degree | E felony (Hidden cams for sexual gratification)
255.25 - Incest 3rd degree | E Felony
263.11 - Possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child | E Felony
263.16 - Possessing a sexual performance by a child | E Felony

Seriously, in New York State possession of an unloaded magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds is taken more seriously than certain charges pertaining to child molesters, child porn, rapists and criminally negligent homicide…………..

Are you freaking kidding me?

Additionally, the state now says that the mere possession of these magazines is now equal to these crimes:

120.02 - Reckless assault of a child | D Felony
120.04 - Vehicular assault 1st degree | D Felony
120.05 - Assault 2nd degree | D Felony
120.18 - Menacing police officer or peace officer | D Felony
120.25 - Reckless endangerment 1st degree | D Felony
120.60 - Stalking 1st degree | D Felony
121.12 - Strangulation 2nd degree | D Felony
125.12 - Vehicular manslaughter 2nd degree | D Felony
130.30 - Rape 2nd degree | D Felony
130.45 - Criminal sexual act 2nd degree | D Felony
130.65 - Sexual abuse 1st degree | D Felony
130.66 - Aggravated sexual abuse 3rd degree | D Felony
130.80 - Course of sexual conduct against a child 2nd degree | D Felony
130.90 - Facilitating a sex offense with a controlled substance | D Felony
135.35 - Labor trafficking | D Felony
140.17 - Criminal trespass 1st degree | D Felony
140.20 - Burglary 3rd degree | D Felony
145.20 - Criminal tampering in the first degree.
155.35 - Grand larceny in the third degree.
160.05 - 3rd degree Robbery | D Felony
165.11 - Auto stripping 1st degree | D Felony
205.15 - Escape 1st degree | D Felony (Prison break)
220.31 - Criminal sale of a controlled substance 5th degree | D Felony
220.73 - Unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine 3rd degree | D Felony
221.25 - Criminal possession of marihuana 2nd degree | D Felony (More than a pound of pot)
221.50 - Criminal sale of marihuana 2nd degree | D Felony (Selling drugs to kids or more than a quarter pound to an adult)
235.22 - Disseminating indecent material to minors 1st degree | D Felony
255.26 - Incest 2nd degree | D Felony
263.10 - Promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child | D Felony

Question: What is the difference between a retired law enforcement officer in New York State, possessing the same magazine that he carried in his department issued weapon, while protecting the people of the state, and a person who over a period of time, not less than three months, engages in two or more acts of sexual conduct with a child less than eleven years old………..

Answer:  according to Governor Cuomo, NOTHING !!!!!!!!!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying retired cops are better than Joe Citizen, in fact we are Joe Citizen, the point I am making is that when they are enacting these laws it is just another feeble attempt to show they are doing something, when in fact all they are doing is passing another law, on top of all the other laws they have passed, that won’t work. 

Addressing the root causes is a tricky issue and one that is not easily fixed. So rather they go after the real bad guys, they go after the law abiding citizens. Why? Because the bottom line is that they just don’t like guns and they will not stop until they managed to ban them all. 

Maybe, instead of asking politicians to protect us, we should find a way to protect ourselves against politicians!!

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