As her case winds through the courts, a prominent Second Amendment rights lawyer is hoping within the next few months to learn how many New Yorkers have registered their assault-style weapons under the NY SAFE Act gun control law.

"I am told that the decisions are forthcoming," Rochester-area lawyer Paloma Capanna said, referring to an Article 78 action, a lawsuit against the state, seeking the number of NY SAFE Act registrations.

Quickly proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and passed by lawmakers in 2013 after the Newtown, Conn., school massacre, the law banned the sale of assault-style weapons.

Those who already owned such guns were grandfathered but were supposed to register them with the State Police as of April 2014. The State Police have never said how many guns have been registered.

News organizations as well as Second Amendment groups have filed requests under the state Freedom of Information Law to find out the number.

But police have maintained the NY SAFE Act, or NY Secure Ammunition Firearms Enforcement Act, contains an exemption to FOIL laws.

Capanna filed suit in late 2014 in state Supreme Court in Albany County. The case is before Justice Thomas McNamara, she said.

Capanna said the lawsuit does not seek personal information, such as the name of registrants, just the number of individuals and weapons, and data about registrations by county.

Opponents of the NY SAFE Act, including gun enthusiasts and Second Amendment activists, have suggested that numerous owners have simply chosen to ignore the new law, rather than to tell State Police about their guns.

In some parts of the state, lawn signs show opposition to the law. A sign recently spotted in Bethlehem, for example, says "Free Men Don't Register," next to a drawing on an assault-style weapon.

The law states that rifles with military features, such as a pistol grip or a flash suppressor, fall into the "assault'' category.

That would include civilian versions of the military M16 rifle, but without the capability to shoot in a fully automatic mode.

State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico estimated soon after the law's passage that hundreds of thousands of assault-style weapons could be owned by civilians.

Another component of the NY SAFE Act, a registration system for buyers of ammunition, remains under development.

The 2015-16 budget includes money that can be used for developing the information system to support an ammunition registry.

Later in April, a gun-rights group called SCOPE, or Shooters Committee on Political Education, is planning a paper protest.

It wants members to inundate officials with FOIL requests to find out if they have been placed on the NY SAFE Act's "no gun'' list.

The law includes a provision for authorities to confiscate weapons from people who suffer from mental health problems and who could present a danger to public safety.

"The idea is to raise public awareness of the secret database and to force the issue that people should have access to their own information," Capanna said.

There is no requirement to notify people if they are on the database, she said.

Bill Nojay, a Rochester-area Republican assemblyman, said lawmakers who voted for the state budget could be criticized for furthering the NY SAFE Act because it contained funds that could help put the law's programs in place.

rkarlin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5758 • @RickKarlinTU