One of the commenters in the article brought up a very good and dangerous point...
All it takes for a real criminal to make an easy $500 is to plant one of their useless guns in a law-abiding citizens vehicle or home, call the number and drop a dime on them...
You folks in NYS are really screwed...
No need to spend the money planting a gun. Just plant a 30 rd AR mag. They will tear the target’s property to pieces looking for the AR.