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Gun owners rally at the State Capitol in Albany in 2013 against the NY Safe Act.

(David Lassman | dlassman@syracuse.com)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A state judge has ruled New York must disclose how many guns are registered as assault weapons, a victory for gun owners critical of the NY Safe Act.

The ruling calls on the New York State Police to immediately release statistics that show how many guns are registered and how many people registered them. The state should also release data that shows how many people registered across jurisdictions, like counties or zip codes.

The state police had refused to release the information because the law prohibits the government from releasing individual data about individuals who register their guns.

But that should not prohibit the state from releasing data in aggregate form, as was requested by the Shooters Committee on Public Education, Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. McNamara ruled April 30.

A spokesman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office said the administration is reviewing the decision. It's possible Cuomo could appeal the decision, delaying the release of information.

Still, pro-gun rights advocates claimed victory.

"The SAFE Act never had anything to do with preventing crime or tragedy, which is why Andrew Cuomo is now refusing to provide any meaningful information about its enforcement," Assemblyman Bill Nojay (R-Pittsford) said in a news release.

The NY Safe Act passed in January 2013, one month after the school shootings in Newtown, Conn. At the time, Cuomo championed the legislation as the strictest gun control laws in the nation.

Since then, a federal judge has rejected a seven-bullet maximum as arbitrary. A background check for all ammunition sales still has not been implemented.

Some state lawmakers are trying to repeal or rewrite those parts of the Safe Act.

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