Assemblymember Pamela J. Hunter (D-Syracuse) announced that she helped pass legislation to tackle gun violence in New York. This is a critical issue for Syracuse, which has a teen shooting rate twice that of other cities with similar sized populations.1 The package includes legislation to ban bump stocks, prevent individuals determined to be a danger to themselves or others from possessing or purchasing firearms, and a measure sponsored by Hunter to address a loophole that allows certain individuals to obtain a gun license without disclosing their mental health history.

“As a mother, I worry about my son’s safety every day,” Hunter said. “But we shouldn’t have to fear for our children’s lives when they walk in our neighborhoods or go to school. Yet, it’s the reality we’re faced with. It needs to end, and we can do that by keeping guns out of the wrong hands.”

Between 2014 and June 2017, nearly 50 kids were injured or killed in gun violence right here in Syracuse.2

Hunter introduced legislation that requires residents who live in another state to waive the confidentiality of their home state mental illness records when applying for a firearm license in New York (A.9978). This fixes a serious loophole that allows out-of-state residents to apply for gun permits here without providing information on their mental illness history, Hunter noted.

“We’ve seen time and time again that when people with clear red flags are able to get guns, tragedies inevitably follow,” Hunter said. “No one who’s a serious threat to themselves or others should have access to a gun.”

Additional legislation establishes the ability of a court to issue a restraining order, known as an “extreme risk protection order,” prohibiting a person who exhibits serious signs of being a threat to themselves or others from purchasing or possessing a firearm for up to one year (A.8976-B). Another measure, known as the Domestic Violence Escalation Prevention Act, prohibits an individual who has been convicted of a domestic violence crime from purchasing or possessing a firearm (A.5025).

Further, the Assembly legislation prohibits the possession, manufacture, transport, shipment and sale of devices that accelerate the firing rate of firearms so they operate in the same manner as machine guns, which are illegal, including trigger cranks and bump stock devices (A.9958).

The package also includes a bill to establish a waiting period of 10 days – instead of the current three days – before a gun may be delivered to a purchaser whose background check is not completed (A.2406). Under current federal law, if National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) comes back with a “delayed” message the dealer may complete the sale after three days. In these cases, the FBI continues to investigate whether the person is an eligible buyer even though the person has likely already been sold the firearm. This extended waiting period would help ensure that only those who have cleared a thorough background check are able to purchase firearms, Hunter noted.

___________________________

1. seattletimes.com/nation-world/teen-gun-violence-a-way-of-life-in-savannah-and-syracuse

2. Ibid.