New York lawmakers on Tuesday approved the toughest gun control legislation in the nation, expanding the state's existing assault weapons ban and addressing gun ownership by those with mental illnesses in the first major legislative action in response to the Newtown, Conn., school massacre.
The measure passed the state Assembly 104-43 after passing the state Senate 43-18 Monday.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo quickly signed the legislation on Tuesday.
"This unfortunately required tragedies and loss of life to actually spur the political process to action," Cuomo said in remarks before signing the bill.
"This will be the toughest gun control package in the nation," Sen. Jeffrey Klein, leader of the Independent Democrat Conference that shares majority control with Republican senators, told The Associated Press. "All in all, it is a comprehensive, balanced approach that will save lives."
The National Rifle Association was "outraged" Tuesday calling New York's gun control bill "draconian," in a statement.
The vote came as lawmakers in other states as well as the federal government wrestle with how to reduce gun violence after a series of mass shootings.
President Barack Obama is set to unveil his own proposals -- based on recommendations from Vice President Joe Biden's gun task force -- on Wednesday. He is expected to focus on both legislative measures and steps that could be taken through executive action.
These steps could include cracking down on people who lie on background checks and focusing on improving school safety and mental health care. A federal assault weapons ban would require approval from Congress.
In New Jersey, one of 18 new gun bills submitted to the legislature would require gun buyers to submit to a psychological evaluation. A bill requiring gun owners to register annually, and another requiring all guns to be kept in lock boxes when not in use may be introduced in California. While in Connecticut, state Sen. Beth Bye, wants to limit access to assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and require that firearms be registered by model and serial number.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who had called for an overhaul of gun laws in New York in his State of the State address last week, praised the swift action of state lawmakers.
"Tonight, the senators that voted for the NY SAFE Act of 2013 made a bold statement, coming together in a bipartisan, collaborative manner to meet the challenges that face our state and our nation, as we have seen far too many senseless acts of gun violence," Cuomo said in a statement Monday.
New York's law will:
- Ban possession of any high-capacity magazines regardless of when they were made or sold. Going forward, only clips able to hold up to seven rounds can be sold in the state. Clips able to hold 7-10 rounds can be possessed, but cannot be loaded with more than seven rounds. If an owner is found to have eight or more bullets in a magazine, he or she could face a misdemeanor charge.
- Require ammunition dealers to do background checks, similar to those for gun buyers. Dealers will be required to report all sales, including amounts, to the state. Internet sales of ammunition will be allowed, but the ammunition will have to be shipped to a licensed dealer in New York state for pickup.
- Police will have to create a registry of assault weapons. Those New Yorkers who already own such weapons would be required to register their guns with the state.
- Most controversially, the New York law will require therapists, who believes a mental health patient made a credible threat of harming others, to report the threat to a mental health director, who would then have to report serious threats to the state Department of Criminal Justice Services. A patient's gun could be taken from him or her, as well.
- Stolen guns should be reported within 24 hours.
In two respects, New York's law will be as strict as California's, because it will:
- Tighten the state's existing limit on selling "assault" weapons by counting any firearm that has even a single feature deemed illegal.
- Require background checks for all gun sales, including by private dealers -- except for sales to members of the seller's immediate family.
"People who have mental health issues should not have guns," Cuomo said, according to The New York Times. "They could hurt themselves, they could hurt other people."
"It is well-balanced, it protects the Second Amendment," Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Long Island told the AP. "And there is no confiscation of weapons, which was at one time being considered.
Critics of the proposal accused lawmakers of playing politics with citizens' rights and hundreds of gun manufacturer jobs.
"We haven't saved any lives tonight, except one: the political life of a governor who wants to be president," Republican Sen. Greg Ball, who represents part of the Hudson Valley, said Monday, according to the AP. "We have taken an entire category of firearms that are currently legal that are in the homes of law-abiding, tax paying citizens. ... We are now turning those law-abiding citizens into criminals."
Assemblyman Marc Butler, a Republican who represents the upstate district where gun-maker Remington Arms Co. is based, called the closed-door meetings by Senate Republicans and the Democratic majority of the Assembly "politics at its worst."
Remington, which employs 1,000 workers, makes the Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle that was used in the Newtown shooting and the killing of two firefighters in Webster, N.Y.
The NRA expressed skepticism in its statement Tuesday: "While lawmakers could have taken a step toward strengthening mental health reporting and focusing on criminals, they opted for trampling the rights of law-abiding gun owners in New York, and they did it under a veil of secrecy in the dark of night."
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