In late-night bipartisan vote, N.Y. State Senate approves sweeping new gun control bill

The N.Y. State Senate late last night passed a sweeping package of new gun control measures. The bill, dubbed the NY SAFE Act of 2013, was approved in a bipartisan 43-18 vote after 11 p.m., with First District Sen. Ken LaValle (R—Port Jefferson) and the entire Long Island delegation, except Sen. Lee Zeldin, voting in support. Zeldin was not present for the vote.

“While the Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms, the Supreme Court has said that that right is ‘not unlimited,'” the senate noted in its statement in support of the bill. “This piece of legislation heeds the guidance of the Supreme Court by refining and improving the assault weapon ban and increasing the safety of New Yorkers while observing the protections of the Second Amendment,” the statement said. “Some weapons are so dangerous and some ammunition devices so lethal that we simply cannot afford to continue selling them in our state. Assault weapons that have military-style features unnecessary for hunting and sporting purposes are this kind of weapon.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who in his “State of the State” address last week called on the Legislature to enact the measures brought to a vote last night, hailed the bill’s passage as a “bold statement” by the Senate “to meet the challenges that face our state and our nation, as we have seen far too many senseless acts of gun violence.”

The bill is expected to be brought to a vote today in the Assembly. See Senate memo and bill provisions here.

Key reforms in the bill include measures that:

• expand the state’s existing ban on assault weapons ;
• require background checks on all virtually all gun sales;
• toughens penalties for illegal gun possession and use, including penalties for possession of firearms on school grounds or on a school bus;
• ban the sale of all large-capacity magazines;
• restrict the sale of ammunition to buyers who are not prohibited by law from possessing ammunition, requiring a disqualifier-review for all ammunition sales;
• require registration of ammunition sellers with the state police;
• require in-person pickup of all ammunition purchases;
• establish new “safe storage” requirements for rifles, shotguns and firearms;
• suspend or revoke the firearms license of any person against whom an order o.f protection
• temporary order of protection has been issued

The package also contains measures aimed at keeping weapons out of the hands of the mentally ill.

Mental health records that are currently submitted to the FBI National Criminal Background Check System will also be housed in a New York State database.

Mental health professionals will be required to report if they believe an individual they are treating is likely to engage in conduct that will cause serious harm to himself or others. When a report is made, the Division of Criminal Justice Services will determine whether the person possesses a firearms license and, if so, will notify the appropriate local licensing official, who must suspend the license. The person’s firearms will then be removed. A good faith decision about whether to report will not be a basis for any criminal or civil liability.

Any criminal case verdict of not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect will result in the mandatory revocation of any gun license held by the defendant.

Upon conviction of an offense that requires the seizure of the defendant’s guns and the revocation of his gun license, the sentencing judge will be required to demand the surrender of his gun license and all guns possessed by the defendant upon a judgement of conviction.

The bill also contains a measure known as “Mark’s Law” that classifies the intentional murder of certain first responders as aggravated murder in the first degree, punishable upon conviction by a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. “Mark’s Law” is named for EMT Mark Davis, 25, who was ambushed and killed while responding to an emergency medical call near upstate Watertown in 2009. It was passed unanimously by the senate in May 2012 but faced opposition in the Assembly.

The legislation would also increase a school district’s state building aid reimbursement by 10 percent if the district purchases various security devices included in their school safety plans.

The bill amends numerous provisions of the state’s penal, corrections, mental hygiene, judiciary, executive and general business laws, and the criminal procedure and family court acts.

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