Gotta love this. Gun manufacturers are using cosmetic tweaks to get around New York’s ban on so-called assault rifles and thus gun dealers are still able to sell them legally in New York:
FOX NEWS – Simple design tweaks are allowing gun makers to get around restrictions New York put in place following the 2012 school shootings in Connecticut, prompting some critics to say the laws were mere window dressing.
New York lawmakers passed the SAFE Act last year, and announced with fanfare that it effectively banned the sale of “assault weapons.” But AR-15s, the most popular type of guns often referred to as assault weapons, are sold in Empire State gun shops, freely and legally. The gun is being marketed by Stag Arms as a “New York-compliant AR-15,” and features a slightly modified stock and no bells and whistles. The gun does not have a pistol grip, for instance – one of the features banned by the act.
“This just shows that the gun prohibition lobby uses symbolic gestures over substance to push their anti-gun rights agenda. Banning guns based on cosmetic features proves that point,” Alan Gottlieb, president of the Second Amendment Foundation, told FoxNews.com.
Gun-rights supporters say it illustrates that so-called “assault weapons” – an often-used term with no single definition – are usually no more dangerous than hunting rifles. The “AR” in AR-15 does not stand for “assault rifle,” as commonly believed, but for “Armalite Rifle.”
In New York, an assault weapon is defined as any semi-automatic rifle that accepts a magazine and has any of a list of ten features, ranging from a pistol-like grip to a flash suppressor to a bayonet mount.