Now you must be 21 to purchase a semi-auto rifle in the State of New York. The fourth most populous state in UNITED STATES also adopted other measures such as a ban on the purchase or sale of bulletproof vests (as the Buffalo shooter wore), except for some professions such as the police, or an extension of professions that can trigger a “red flag” procedure by reporting a person at risk for the courts to confiscate their weapon.
This set of laws passed on Monday comes after the buffalo racist killing spree and the Texas school massacre. The two perpetrators of the murders were 18 years old and carried this type of weapon. “Gun violence is an epidemic that is tearing our country apart. Thoughts and prayers won’t solve the problem, but strong actions will,” Kathy Hochul, the Democratic governor of New York City, where the city of Buffalo is located, said Monday.
No deal between Democrats and Republicans on guns
US President Joe Biden himself called for a nationwide ban last week the sale of semi-automatic assault riflesas happened from 1994 to 2004, or the failure to raise the minimum age for purchase from 18 to 21, but the negotiations so far have not resulted in an agreement between Democrats and Republicans.
Behind these two tragedies that have rocked the country, there are daily shootings in the United States, such as those that happened in Philadelphia (three dead) and in Chattanooga (Tennessee, three dead) this weekend. New York State already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country and was among the five states in the country with the lowest gun fatalities in 2020, according to a recent study by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
