In a boldly-worded press release, the nonprofit gun-rights organization Connecticut Carry is calling on state officials to either enforce the recently passed expanded ban on so-called ‘assault weapons’ or else repeal the law altogether.
The ultimatum was issued because the leadership of Connecticut Carry believes that lawmakers do not have the temerity to instruct law enforcement to go door-to-door to ensure that every gun owner is in compliance with the ban, which required all citizens to register their rifle defined as “assault weapons” with state police by Jan. 1, 2014.
“From Gov. Malloy, to Undersecretary Lawlor to DESPP, Commissioner Schriro, and Lt. Cooke of the firearms unit, and including Lt. Paul Vance, the state needs to shit, or get off the pot,” said the group’s director, Ed Peruta.
“The fact is, the state does not have the balls to enforce these laws,” he continued. “The laws would not survive the public outcry and resistance that would occur.”
[amazon asin=B00801Q94C&template=*lrc ad (left)]Under the law, those who failed to register their newly banned firearms and magazines (those holding more than 10 rounds) by the deadline will now have to either sell them out of state, render them inoperable or turn them over to the government.
While many folks complied with the law and registered their firearms and magazines — estimates indicate that more than 50,000 firearms and 40,000 magazines were registered by the end of 2013 — many others did not.
In fact, The Hartford Courant contends that as many as 350,000 so-called ‘assault weapons’ were not registered, which means that the state, “has very likely created tens of thousands of newly minted criminals.”
Yet, from the eyes of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration, that will change once people realize they’re illegal and they can’t keep them, then “they’re going to get rid of them,” said Michael P. Lawlor, the governor’s [amazon asin=B000HHEQYM&template=*lrc ad (right)]undersecretary for criminal justice policy and planning.
Connecticut Carry, however, disagrees with the notion that people are simply going to give up their lawfully obtained property because its now considered contraband. Once again, the reason is because there’s no credible enforcement mechanism in place. The law has no teeth.
“The anti-gun legislators and officials are scared to implement their tyranny because they know that they did not have any sort of ‘consent of the governed,’” states the press release.
“Now, State officials look down the barrel of the laws that they created, and it is very probably that they now tremble as they rethink the extremity of their folly,” it goes on.
[amazon asin=B007A4JWF8&template=*lrc ad (left)]“Connecticut Carry calls on every State official, every Senator, and every Representative, to make the singular decision: Either enforce the laws as they are written and let us fight it out in court, or else repeal the 2013 Gun Ban in its entirety.”
To learn more about Connecticut Carry’s stance on this new law, Guns.com reached out to the author of the press release and the president of the organization Rich Burgess. Below is our brief Q&A:
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S.H. Blannelberry: If someone hasn’t registered their so-called ‘assault weapon’ with the state by the deadline, what is your advice to him/her?
Rich Burgess: While we don’t give legal advice, we do try to educate people about their rights and about the laws. As such, we would inform people of their lawful options, such as moving the firearm out of the state, selling it to an FFL or altering the firearm to meet the letter of the law. At the same time, we would also try to educate those people who wish to disobey the law about their rights and what to do if the state tries to come after them. We have publications about topics like this, and we have information on our website about it.
We also discussed, in depth, the decision about whether to comply or not to comply by discussing the consequences for either action in our December newsletter.
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