I was led to believe that the only firearms that needed to be registered were handguns..........That's the way it is here in Michigan.
Something smells fishy here. I suspect that rifle and shotgun ownership is not required registration but that New York retained the sales records of such firearms and have used those records to go after the owners.
That's just my guess......
“It is unlawful to possess rifles or shotguns in New York City without obtaining a permit issued by the New York City Police Department.”
“The application fee is $140.00. The fingerprint fee is $91.50. You may pay the fees with a credit card or two POSTAL MONEY ORDERS, BANK TELLER’S CHECKS OR CERTIFIED CHECKS. Cash is not accepted. Please make your money orders or checks payable to the “New York City Police Department.” No personal checks will be accepted.”
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/permits/rifle_licensing_information.shtml
It appears that you can register all the rifles and shotguns that you want, once your application is approved.
There’s ZERO reason for registration other than eventual confiscation. It stops NO crime, it prevents NO murders, it does NOTHING except give a future (or current) thug administration the location of people who could potentially resist them.
Ask Germany; those “law-biding” folks registered their guns under the frigging KAISER in WWI - for the “War Emergency” - and all of those neatly-typed, Teutonically-efficient card files were sitting there just waiting for the National Socialist “Democrat” Worker’s Party (yes, it’s intentional) to come along and go “OH, LOOKY!”
And they did. And if every Jewish family in Germany had a Mauser and a few hundreds rounds of ammunition - and the WILL to resist them, the Holocaust would NEVER have happened.
A true government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” has no need to fear Citizens exercising their most Basic Human, Civil, and Constitutional RIGHT.
What we have now is vastly different, and whatever you have, you will need sooner or later. This NY thing is a test of the waters. If they think they can get away with it, they will. And Democrat thug administrations in other states will try it as well.
Nothing in their past or present behavior leads me to conclude otherwise.
And yes... it will get ugly. They have the “comply or die” attitude and are depending on people being terrified of them.
But being an American means we have have duties, obligations, and responsibilities - and that means we DON’T give up rights that our People fought and died for, just because some two-bit cheap thug who managed to get himself elected decides we should - at ANY level.
A firearm in your hands gives you the ability to say “No”... a word which every thug throughout history has hated.
It’s the will to do so that’s the key.