Tuesday, January 15, 2013

My Heart Sinks for New York State

I found out this morning that the State of New York agreed to pass the toughest gun control laws in the country. This news comes six days after Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his agenda during his state of the state address. It is expected to pass today.

The law calls for restrictions on ammunition and gun sales. The current state law defines an assault weapon as have two "military rifle" style features. The new law changed that to just one. Private sales of assault weapons to someone other than a family member will require a background check through a dealer and internet sales of assault weapons are prohibited. In addition magazine capacity will be limited to just 7 rounds from the current ten. Existing owners of "higher-capacity" magazines will have one year to sell them out of state and an owner found at home with more than 8 rounds in a magazine could face a misdemeanor charge.

The law additionally includes provisions regarding mental health. If a therapist feels an individual made a credible threat to use a gun illegally they would be required to report it and that individuals guns could be taken away. It also increases sentences for gun crimes.

In my opinion some of the provisions in the law are common sense. We need better monitoring of mentally ill individuals and a way to keep firearms out of their hands. Also gun crime needs to be punished harshly to set the bar for others who may be thinking of committing the same crimes. However this law also punishes legal gun owners by restricting their magazine capacity. As I have said countless times before bad guys don't care about laws. So if a criminal breaks into a persons home in New York with ill intentions, you can almost guarantee they will have a high capacity magazine while the occupants who need protection wait, outgunned.

This law also challenges gun manufacturers who make guns that generally come stock with at least a ten round magazine. By passing this law they are essentially "banning" those guns unless the manufacturers start making New York legal magazines.

New York state and their politicians have tiptoed around violating the second amendment. They have turned their citizens into future victims. Today goes down in history as the day that New York became one of the least safest states in the union. What they claim this law will do for their state is a blatant travesty.

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