On January 9, 2013, all eyes were on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as he delivered his “State-of-the-State” address, including a few moments when he outlined his agenda for a new gun policy, which includes tightening of the existing Assault Weapons Ban.  Just three days prior, New York State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos issued his own proposal, focusing on illegal gun use.  While the New York Assembly has a strong Democratic majority plus a Speaker and Majority Leader loyal to the Governor, the Senate has a technical Republican majority but a recent history of non-party-line voting.

Let’s make a short list of each set of topics advanced in New York, one by Gov. Cuomo, the other by NY Senator Skelos.  The highlighted items relate to firearms compliance, and are selected from longer lists as published by each official’s office.

Selected items from Gov. Cuomo’s “Safe and Fair Gun Policy,” as follows:

• tightening the existing assault weapons ban;
• eliminating large capacity magazines, regardless of date of manufacture;
• expand background checks to include private gun sales;
• removal of firearms by law enforcement in response to mental health professional reporting; and,
• post-license checks to ensure persons prohibited from owning firearms do not possess valid licenses.

(See more of the Governor’s proposal.  You may wish to note that the Governor’s published list of proposals differs from his live address, which included background checks for ammunition purchases and a ban on internet sales, available for your review here.)

Several points from NY Sen. Skelos’ package “Cracking Down on Illegal Guns and Criminals Who Use Guns,” as follows:

• create a statewide public registry of violent felony offenders released from prison; and,
• institute a new felony for “constructive possession” for those who share or illegally transfer a gun that is later unused in a violent crime.

The package of reforms proposed by NY Sen. Skelos is lengthy, and primarily relates to the penal law.  (See more of the Senator’s proposals.)

With much of New York state politics conducted – rather infamously – as ‘three-men-in-a-room,’ we may not hear much more about these agendas until a Bill is published to go to vote.

As federal and state officials begin to announce line item descriptions of political agendas, here at Orchid Advisors, we will be blogging this political news to keep you informed of potential compliance requirements.  We will also be compiling the politicians’ ideas to watch for trends to try to anticipate future compliance requirements that could impact all aspects of the firearms industry and rights and responsibilities of federal firearms licensees.

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