New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Doubles Membership

The wages of the SAFE Act. Now they are the largest NRA state affiliate organization, having surpassed Texas:

Today, the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA) is proud to announce that its membership has nearly doubled since the passage of the NY SAFE Act. NYSRPA President Tom King said, “Our membership has increased from (22,000?) to 41,000+ individual members in the space of one year. This is an extraordinary jump, and when you factor in the clubs and other organizations that are also members, we are a force to be reckoned with.” King noted that NYSRPA, the nation’s oldest National Rifle Association (NRA) affiliate, is now the largest, surpassing the Texas affiliate. King, an NRA board member, said he looks forward to drawing attention to this when he meets with his Texas Colleagues at the next NRA board meeting.

King cites the passage of the NY SAFE Act as the primary reason for the exponential increase in membership. “The NY SAFE Act is one of the most egregious assaults ever perpetrated on the Constitutional Rights of New Yorkers and people are fed up. I would point out that the governor recently said that advocates for the Second Amendment, traditional marriage, and the right to life, have forfeited their right to residency in this state. This is simply outrageous, and while we are strictly a Second Amendment advocacy organization, I can appreciate other organization’s consternation at such hubris.”

The NYSRPA is currently in the process of litigating against the NY SAFE Act. “We had a recent decision in the Western NY federal judicial district that bodes well for our cause,” King. “The court ruled that the seven round limit on magazine capacity violated the Second Amendment and this decision has left the door open for a favorable ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court. Said King, “NYSRPA has already spent over $450,000 in legal fees and is prepared to bear whatever cost is required to defeat the NY SAFE Act. To quote the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ‘we shall overcome’.”

Let us hope that their lawsuits find some success. I’ll be writing more about some activity in regards to lawsuits later, when I have a chance to review some opinions.

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  3. More on NRA “Gag Order”

13 thoughts on “New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Doubles Membership”

  2. Would have been better if they had been members before their rights were taken away. Too late now, but they’ll take your money.

    1. Amen. Understatement of the year. Though to be fair they are spending money trying to fight it in the courts, which isn’t cheap.

  3. Yes, fight it in that pro-gun Second Circuit. The only way this thing changes is if we get a case to SCOTUS and before another liberal is appointed or this is all an exercise if futility.

    1. It kinda has to go through the circuits first to be kicked up to SCOTUS.

      I’ve also noticed that for your bile you’re not giving much in the way of advice.

      Not everyone can flee New York (I’m lucky in that I could), and there’s the problem of ceeding so much ground.

      As Sebastian noted there’s been a big affect in Illinois and it’s better to be fighting on their turf.

      So with all sincerity. What would *you* suggest for those behind the lines in New York?

      Because you’re right, another ban will happen the next time they can ram it through, and increasing membership is important but there needs to be more.

      1. Carnivore is correct, though. The dynamics of the 2nd circuit are far different than those in some others.

        As to what I suggest to people stuck “behind the lines” in NY, who refuse to or are unable to move?

        The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them… Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission.”
        – George Washington, NY, 1776

        The options for those who remain are:
        1) Submit and comply.
        2) Quietly resist through non-compliance, realizing that if a neighbor rats them out to the Stasi Hotline they will be treated like an outlaw. SWAT will pillage their home, family pets will be lucky to survive, and your wife and kids will be humiliated. If you’re lucky, only you will be arrested. If not, your kids will go to CPS while you and your wife sit without bail. Worst case, your home is torched, a family member gets shot, and they find some kiddy porn/drugs in your home which helps the media demonize you.
        3) Openly resist through open non-compliance. See above item #2 for likely outcome. The only way I see this flying is if you have broad, deep community (county level) support.

        I say this as someone who has sent money to NYSRPA. It is worth contesting in the courts, if for no other reason than to morally exhaust all possible appeals. Make no mistake — Gov Cuomo and those who elected him have openly declared war on people like us. Gov Cuomo wants gun owners in his state to submit, leave, or go to prison. This is not paranoia. This is reality.

        Carnivore is also absolutely correct that SCOTUS is the last firewall in the short to mid term. NY is not going to “vote the bastards out.” SAFE passed with a broad bipartisan majority. A supermajority of counties voted for Cuomo. The 2nd Circuit is not going to make it right.

        My guess? 2nd circuit slow rolls this case in hopes of dragging it out long enough for one of the Heller 5 to be replaced by Hillary. If we don’t get a Republican into the white house in 2016, I am not optimistic about our odds in the SCOTUS. I’m not saying that the GOP is super awesome on the issue; I do think that with SCOTUS picks the GOP is about 50/50 likely to get it right with regard to the RKBA, though, and with the Dems the odds of getting a pro-2A justice are about one in ten.

        Other possible COAs if SCOTUS doesn’t come to the rescue?
        – Western NY makes itself ungovernable and successfully petitions for secession from NYS. Upstate I think is a lost cause, but Western NY has different demographics and voting trends.
        – The Federal Congress and President invalidate state AWBs and carry laws. I think this goes hand in hand with holding the SCOTUS though in that both entail winning elections in 2016. I also see this as being a mid to long term solution.

        I hate to say it again, but it comes down to: Freedom is only a uhaul ride away. Move to America. They haven’t put a wall up to keep you in — yet.

        1. Exactly my points. I should have said it that way rather than sounding cynical. I’m not trying to be negative and would encourage people to join NRA, GOA, NYSRPA, etc., but nothing any of them do is going to change NY or MD, CA, CT, MA, or NJ. Maybe CO can be saved because it isn’t 100% blue yet, but join now; not after the damage is done.

    3. I’d also note that it could be past 2016 by the time this makes its way to SCOTUS, and things could be vastly different then.

  4. Well, it looks as if NY state heeded their wake-up call, if a bit late. Sadly, that is human nature “naw, that won’t happen here” at it’s finest. I just wonder how many outside of NY have gotten the message.

    Merle

    1. Have they?

      41K members is 0.2% of NY’s 19.6 million residents. And many of the new NYSRPA members are likely out of staters like me who don’t vote in NY.

      0.2% is not “getting the message.” 0.2% is a small minority that can be safely eliminated (at least politically, if not literally) by Gov Cuomo and his political allies.

      1. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the new NYSRPA members are from out of state.

        Any change in NY is going to take years, if not generations.

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