Poor Andrew Cuomo.

Due the the tyrannical actions of Andrew Cuomo and his allies in the state legislature,  New York residents are required to register an estimated 1 million firearms designated as “assault weapons” under the NY SAFE Act by April 15.

Unfortunately for the Governor and his allies, it appears that the open revolt of most of the state’s law enforcement leaders against NY SAFE—who correctly view the law as a blatantly unconstitutional assault on the state constitution and the Second Amendment—means that noncompliance is overwhelming.

While NY State Police refuse to publicly share the number of firearms that have been registered (citing a provision of the NY SAFE Act itself), leaks purporting to be from within the agency suggest that compliance might be as low as just 3,000-5,000 firearms. There is no way to conclusively verify this paltry figure which suggests that 99.5% of New Yorkers are thumbing their noses at Albany, but it may very well be a credible figure.

Why?

Non-compliance rates of 85%-90% or more are the rule when draconian gun control laws demanding registration are passed in the United States. Those rates are normal even with relatively popular support from voters and law enforcement. Those dynamics of “popular support” are assuredly not in play in New York.

While gun registration may be exceedingly popular south of the Tappan Zee Bridge, and in a few pockets upstate, many (if not most) law enforcement officers and gun owners in the state have publicly rebelled against the law. Many municipal and county governments have joined them in open defiance. Gun owners in New York are well aware of the fact that their county sheriffs, state police, and local officers don’t intend to enforce the law, a stance that many law enforcement leaders have announced publicly.

Knowing that the chief law enforcement officers in most counties have announced that they will not enforce the law, a non-compliance rate exceeding 95% and perhaps exceeding 98% does indeed seem plausible.

As New York Assemblyman Bill Nojay (R-Pittsford) noted previously:

“The rank and file troopers don’t want anything to do with it,” Assemblyman Bill Nojay (R-Pittsford) said Monday. “I don’t know of a single sheriff upstate who is going to enforce it.”

“If you don’t have the troopers and you don’t have the sheriffs, who have you got? You’ve got Andrew Cuomo pounding on the table in Albany,” Nojay said.

Andrew Cuomo has demonstrated that he has the political power to ram through unconstitutional laws in Albany. What he’s also unwittingly exposed is his complete inability to enforce them.