Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers announced an agreement Tuesday on a package of bills that will tighten New York’s already strict gun laws and raise the minimum age to buy a semi-automatic rifle to 21.
The deal follows recent mass shootings, most recently at a Texas elementary school, as well as the massacre at a Buffalo supermarket.
Hochul said that New York must take a step forward, as it is not clear if Congress will take action.
This is just part of the action I’m taking to make sure New Yorkers can feel safe in schools, in grocery stores, in movie theaters, in shopping malls, and on our streets.
I’ll keep doing everything in my power to protect them. Learn more: https://t.co/t4LPLHfPEt
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) May 31, 2022
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“New York already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, but clearly we need to make them even stricter,” the governor said in a statement. “New Yorkers deserve to feel safe in schools, grocery stores, movie theaters, shopping malls and on our streets, and we must do everything in our power to protect them.”
The package includes measures that prohibit the sale and purchase of bulletproof vests for anyone who does not work in the field of law enforcement. It also closes the legal loophole that allows the sale of certain weapons that would otherwise be prohibited. Another bill could lead to micro-stamping of ammunition, making it easier to identify in the event of crimes.
Among the biggest changes to New York’s gun laws will be a new requirement that anyone looking to buy a semi-automatic rifle must be at least 21 years old, instead of 18, and must first obtain a gun license.
Currently, licenses and permits are required only for handguns.
“Our nation has reached a time of reckoning because of the weapons of war that have been too easily accessed by those who seek to kill,” said State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D -Yonkers). “These guns have turned places in our communities like schools, grocery stores, houses of worship and concerts into places of carnage.”
Other bills will strengthen the state’s “red flag” law, which bars those who may be a threat to themselves or others from owning guns, and create a new “Task Force on Social Media and Violent Extremism.” within the Attorney General’s office to “study and investigate the role of social media companies in promoting and facilitating violent extremism and domestic terrorism online.”
On May 14, 10 people, all black, were killed while shopping at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo. Authorities allege 18-year-old Payton Gendron shot his victims to death after posting racist tirades in online chat rooms and planning the massacre for months.
Last week, Salvador Ramos, also 18, murdered 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, before being killed by police. Ramos reportedly posted photos of guns and made threatening comments online before the shooting.
Both alleged shooters used variations of semi-automatic rifles known as AR-15s, which are legal in New York. The gun used in the Buffalo shooting was modified with a high-capacity magazine that allows 30 shots per round and was purchased in Pennsylvania, according to police.
“Just 10 days separated the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde that claimed the lives of 31 people. Nowhere else in the world does this happen,” said Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx). “We desperately need a conversation about guns, but we also desperately need action.
“I hope that one day we will see an end to the horrible gun violence that we see in this country. But until then, I will keep fighting,” he added.
Lawmakers are expected to vote on the package before the scheduled end of Thursday’s legislative session.
Other bills slated for passage will remove protection from large-capacity ammunition feeding devices that were legally owned before the SAFE Act was enacted in 2013 or manufactured before 1994. Under the new laws, police will be required to report seized or recovered weapons to the Criminal Weapons Clearinghouse and sharing information with federal authorities, as well as evidence of seized or recovered weapons to the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network.
The state police must also carry out inspections of arms dealers every three years.
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