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Guns are displayed on a table on display during the annual New York State Arms Collectors Association Albany Gun Show at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center

(Philip Kamrass | The Associated Press)

Buffalo police plan to confiscate firearms of recently deceased gun owners, but they're facing strong resistance from Second Amendment activists, Fox News reports.

During a press conference last week, Buffalo police said their biggest problem with weapons in crimes seems to involve guns that are stolen in burglaries from homes, WGRZ reports. In some cases, they think families are holding on to weapons even though the person who originally bought them has died.

"We recently started a program where we're cross referencing all the pistol permit holders with the death records, and we're sending people out to collect the guns whenever possible so that they don't end up in the wrong hands," said Police Commissioner Daniel Derrenda, WGRZ reports. "Because at times they lay out there and the family is not aware of them and they end up just out on the street."'

According to Fox News, the plan is legal under a longstanding, but rarely enforced New York state law. However, gun rights advocates say it isn't the police's job to take away these firearms, including those that may have substantial monetary or sentimental value to a family.

"They're quick to say they're going to take the guns," Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, told Fox News. "But they don't tell you the law doesn't apply to long guns, or that these families can sell [their loved one's] pistol or apply to keep it." King said enforcing this little-known state law proves police are targeting law-abiding gun owners.

But Derrenda said guns pose a threat if their owner is no longer alive to safeguard them, especially during a home burglary. "At times they lay out there and the family is not aware of them and they end up just out on the street," he told WGRZ.

Fox News reports New York state law states that if the permit holder dies, the estate has 15 days to dispose of the guns or turn them in to authorities, who can hold the weapons for up to two years. According to LoHud.com, that violation of the law by survivors is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine.

Police say the goal of reducing the number of guns on the street is also why they have offered the gun buyback, no-questions-asked program which exchanges pre-paid cash cards for guns, WGRZ reports. Though many doubt criminals would trade in their guns, police claim the program is still beneficial to take in weapons each year.

Second Amendment activists continue to share their outrage over the plan. BearingArms.com wrote on its website, "They (Buffalo Police) are going use the relative's pistol permit as the proverbial camel's nose under the tent to get at every firearm they can, hoping to remove all the firearms from the home while the family is at their most vulnerable."

Though Mayor Byron Brown hasn't addressed the plan since its announcement, according to Fox News, he did express to WIVB during the summer his desire to keep guns out of criminals' hands in any way possible: "I say to those critics, again, if we can get one of these guns off the streets that could be used to commit a crime or injure a member of our community, it's a good thing."