By Nick Quattrini
ALBANY, N.Y. (WENY) – The Firearms Policy Coalition is suing New York over the statewide assault weapons ban.
The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The defendants include NYS Attorney General Letitia James, and NYSP Superintendent Kevin Bruen.
According to the lawsuit, the label of “assault weapon” is inaccurate, and the ban on certain semiautomatic weapons is unconstitutional.
New York State considers an assault weapon to be any semiautomatic rifle that has the ability to accept a detachable magazine, and has one or more defined characteristics. For example, characteristics that include a folding or telescoping stock, a pistol grip, or a flash suppressor.
The lawsuit claims that semiautomatic firearms have been widely used and accepted as being lawful, and the label of “assault weapon” is a misnomer concocted by anti-gun publicists. The lawsuit highlights the fact that a semiautomatic AR-15 only fires once per trigger pull, unlike military grade weaponry that fires multiple rounds per trigger pull. The lawsuit also claims that so-called “assault weapons” which may look different on the outside, are no different than any other semiautomatic pistol, rifle, or shotgun on a relevant constitutional level.
The New York State’s ban on assault weapons went into effect in 2013 after the passage of the “NY SAFE Act” — which was in response to the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and in Webster, New York.
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