Safe Act Gun Law in NY Raises Many Questions And Concerns

Governor Andrew Cuomo has had to deal with an absolute firestorm after signing a new gun law in NY into legislation.  The New York secure ammunition and firearms enforcement act of 2013 also known as the SAFE act has caused many questions and a significant amount of concerns within many groups of New York state citizens. The law was quickly put in place in NY in response to the call to action by president Obama in signing the 23 executive presidential orders on gun control earlier this month.  Those on both sides of the gun control issue are looking for clarification of the gun law in NY and new limitations on assault weapons and high capacity magazines in New York state. Another issue that has surfaced is the idea that this new gun law was pushed through hastily and as quickly as possible behind closed doors without a good understanding by the legislature of what they were actually turning into law and without allowing any counter argument from the New York state public. A three day review period is supposed to be put in place for new laws in NY. This review period in this case was sidestepped arbitrarily by Governor Cuomo. His reasoning for eliminating the review period for this particular law was to prevent any public hearings or debate that might slow his ability to pass a law on such a volatile issue. This idea is troubling no matter where one may fall on the gun control. The new law now reduces the allowable number of rounds a gun owner may have in his or her magazine from 10 to 7. This has caused problems for gun dealers as there currently are no manufacturers making magazines smaller than ten rounds leaving dealers with merchandise that consumers cannot buy. Also the written language of the bill did not clearly omit law enforcement as being within the law if they use weapons with over 7 rounds. These issues prompted the New York State Sheriff’s Association to issue a Response of their concerns with this new gun law in NY. The legislature after signing the bill verbally made a statement that law enforcement officers would not fall under this limitation. The new gun law in NY also places a ban on the sale of military style assault weapons. Anyone owning one of these types of weapons must register it with the New York State police by 2014 or sell it out of state. Weapons are considered to be assault weapons by the state if they are semiautomatic and also have one military type feature like a folding stock, threading for a flash suppressor, or features such as a stock type grip.  The specifics of what the state considers an assault weapon can be found on the website of the office of the governor. The law makes it necessary for private sales of guns to be subjected to the National Instant Criminal Background Check system, makes mental health records available for review before a gun purchase, and increases the penalties for gun crimes. Specifically increasing felony penalties for murder of first responders and for those that commit crimes with guns not registered to them. Some of these changes are needed and will truly prevent criminals from obtaining guns that they will use to inflict harm on others. Some of the changes however seem to make it more difficult for law abiding gun owners to exercise their constitutional rights and also make it more difficult for gun dealers to conduct business. I fail to see how reducing the number of rounds in a magazine from 10 to 7 is going to prevent a gun crime. Of greater concern is the fact that the state government thought it in best practice to eliminate public review and debate while making a change that closely contests it’s citizen’s constitutional rights.  Hopefully with the outpouring of debate now over this issue more care will be taken by the state government going forward especially when dealing with situations contesting the interpretation of the US constitution.