Committee backs partial disclosure

Committee backs partial disclosure – In an advisory opinion issued Friday, the state Committee on Open Government says the State Police should not deny Freedom of Information Law requests seeking “aggregate” data such as the number of assault weapons that have been registered under the provisions of the NY SAFE Act. State Police officials have for almost a year refused to release any data about the number of weapons registered under the controversial gun control law. They have consistently pointed to a little-known clause tucked into the speedily passed law that renders registration information contained in the state’s databank confidential: “Records assembled or collected for purposes of inclusion in such (a) database shall not be subject to disclosure,” the law reads. To the derision of anti-NY SAFE activists and transparency advocates, the State Police has held that the statute covers any data derived from those records, as well. Critics say that the policy prevents New Yorkers from assessing the effectiveness of the registration law.