New York’s SAFE Act Allows Police to Seize Firearms Without a Warrant: Lawsuit

New York’s hastily-passed gun control law “mandates that law enforcement personnel seize, without a warrant, probable cause or hearing” some firearms, a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York’s Eastern District alleges.

The lawsuit was filed in March by the La Reddola, Lester & Associates law firm on behalf of Gabriel Razzano. As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, the lawsuit claims the registry process is “essentially secret and results in a mandatory, warrantless Penal Law 400 gun removal visit from police.”

A memorandum of law requesting preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order in regards to the law outlines five key points:

Source: La Reddola, Lester & Associates

“Under the State Police registration system, a similar issue arrises,” the lawsuit states. “By registering an assault rifle under Penal Law 400.00(16-A), an individual is forced to provide information to the State Police which will be used in conduction with the Database created by N.Y. Penal Law 400.02 to ultimately arrest the individual for being ineligible to possess a ‘weapon,’ ‘firearm’, ‘shotgun’ or ‘rifle’, seize the weapons and firearms, and prosecute the individual for possession of such weapons.”

Due to the fact that the New York Department of Criminal Justice (NYDCJ) is in charge of monitoring the database under the SAFE Act, the lawsuit claims a resident determined to be “ineligible” to own a certain firearm immediately becomes “vulnerable to imminent seizure of all weapons, without a hearing or even an arrest warrant.”

The deadline for New Yorkers to register their so-called "assault weapons" is April 15. There has been speculation, though no solid numbers, indicating that many gun owners have not done so.

"Several bills seeking to repeal the SAFE Act were squashed in committee two days ago," the Free Beacon adds. "New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA) President Thomas King announced that all bills calling for the repeal of the SAFE Act were killed in the Democrat-dominated Codes Committee and would not be brought to the assembly floor for a vote."

Read WFB's full report on the lawsuit here. Read the actual legal documents here.

Featured image via AP