New York State Passes Toughest Gun Laws in the Nation

The NY Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act of 2013 was signed into law on Tuesday after being put through the Senate, Assembly and then signed by Governor Cuomo in a matter of days.

To read the entire law go to - http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S2230-2013

Some key provisions of the NY SAFE Act include:

 TOUGHER ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN: The legislation outlines a stricter definition of assault weapons, and implements an immediate ban of defined assault weapons. Under the stricter definitions, semi-automatic pistols and rifles with detachable magazines and one military style feature will be considered assault weapons. Semi-automatic shotguns with one military style feature will also be considered assault weapons. Assault weapons possessed before the effective date must be registered within a year and recertified every five years. Owners of grandfathered assault weapons may only sell out of state or through an in state federal firearms licensee.

 STRONGER REGULATIONS ON AMMUNITION: Under the legislation, New York will have the strongest ban on high capacity magazines in the country, with a limit on capacity of seven rounds, down from the current limit of ten. The legislation includes a ban on possession of pre-1994 high capacity magazines, and will require owners to sell the banned magazines out of state within one year. Existing ten round magazines can be grandfathered in, but may only be loaded with 7 rounds.

To track high-volume ammunition purchasers, the legislation will make New York the first state in the nation to track ammo purchases in real time. All dealers in ammunition must be registered with the State Police, and each sale will require both a state background check and transmission of a record of the sale to State Police, so as to enable alerts of high volume purchases. The legislation will also include a ban on direct internet sales of ammunition. Ammunition ordered over the internet must be delivered in a face-to-face transaction with a firearms dealer and the purchaser will be subject to the state background check.

 STATEWIDE RECERTIFICATION OF HANDGUNS AND ASSAULT WEAPONS: The legislation will require individuals who have a handgun license or have registered an assault weapon in New York State to recertify every five years through their county of residence. With this information, the state will establish an electronic gun permit database that may be run against other databases containing the names of people who will be disqualified from possessing firearms, including those with criminal convictions, involuntary commitments, and those subject to orders of protection, as well as death records.

 UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS: closing the private sales loophole: The legislation will require all gun transfers between private parties, except immediate family, to be conducted through a federal firearms licensee, subject to a Federal National Instant Criminal Background Check.

MENTAL HEALTH ALERT: Under the legislation, mental health professionals will be required to report to local mental health officials when there is reason to believe a patient is likely to engage in conduct that will cause serious harm to themselves or others. This information will then be crosschecked against the new comprehensive, and regularly updated, gun registration database. If the patient possesses a gun, the license will be suspended and law enforcement will be authorized to remove the person’s firearm.

 TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR ILLEGAL GUN USE:

Possession of an unloaded gun will be raised from a misdemeanor to a Class E felony. Recklessly injuring a child by a firearm will become a Class D felony.

The purchase of a gun for someone the buyer knows to be disqualified because of a conviction of a crime, an involuntary commitment or other disqualifier, will be raised to a Class D felony from a misdemeanor. This also raised to a class D felony the sale or transfer of a firearm to an individual known to be prohibited from possessing a gun.

Using or carrying a firearm during drug trafficking or a violent felony will include a 5 year mandatory minimum sentence if the gun is loaded and a 3½ year mandatory minimum if unloaded. (The Court could impose a lower sentence in drug trafficking cases depending on mitigating factors).

Sharing a gun with an individual who is not authorized to possess a gun and commits a crime will constitute criminal facilitation.