According to information received by Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned the state of New York is encouraging denizens to turn in their firearm owning neighbors:
The state has established a toll-free tip line – 1-855-GUNSNYS (1-855- 486-7697) to encourage residents to report illegal firearm possession. The tip line also allows for information to be submitted via text – individuals can text GUNTIP and their message to CRIMES (274637). While the state will provide the administrative support and fund the rewards, the investigation and validity of the tip will be up to each local department.
[…]
If the information leads to an arrest for the illegal possession of a firearm, the “tipster” will be awarded $500. DCJS staff will handle all of the financial transactions.
In other words turn your neighbor over to the Stasi and you’ll receive a reward. This doesn’t surprise me as the state always attempts to recruit members of the general populace into its surveillance ranks. This is also an example of divide and conquer. The politicians in New York know that gun owners are likely to stick together and will also ignore the new firearm restrictions. In order to enforce the politician’s decrees the enforcers must segregate gun owners from the general population and the most effective means of doing that is to incentivize the general population to move against gun owners. It’s the same tactic the Nazis used (go ahead, try to incite Godwin’s Law, it doesn’t apply to accurate historical comparisons) to encourage individuals to turn in their neighbors that were hiding Jews.
History has many lessons to teach us but it seems few are willing to learn. When the state starts offering incentives to turn over neighbors you must realize they aren’t going to stop with just one group. Eventually they will be offering cash rewards that will encourage your neighbors to turn you in. In a police state, like the one we live in today, the golden rule is don’t talk to the police.
I will close with the following thought: hotlines only have a limited number of lines that can be open simultaneously. There are a lot of people in this world who have phones. If they all continuously called the hotline with bogus tips (or just report every police officer sighting, since they carry firearms that violate New York’s new restrictions) it would render the hotline entirely ineffective. Bonus points would probably have to be given to anybody who setup an auto-dialer to continuously call the hotline from multiple phone numbers.