New York’s Influence on the Federal Gun Law
Since the tragic events in Aurora, Colorado and more recently Newtown Connecticut the talks of stricter gun laws has become a major controversy and political topic. According to an Editorial from the New York Times, New York Leads on Gun Control Editorial, the state of New York has created a bill that will further make guns harder to obtain and own. The bill expands the ban of assault rifles to also include semiautomatic weapons with detachable magazines. In addition the bill will decrease magazine clips to 7 rounds instead of 10 rounds and would require gun licenses to be renewed every 5 years. With these restrictions the bill requires all dealer to provide background checks and it also creates a data base for gun permit and a registry for ammunition sales. The most controversial part of the bill is it would allow a medical professional to declare that someone is harm to themselves of others leading to a seizer of their guns. While this part of the law is still being discussed if it is approved this part of the bill could go against doctor-patient confidentiality. If the federal government used New York‘s bill as a model they can decrease gun involved accidents or massacres by limiting the amount of ammo, and providing a way to track gun sales and permits.
In both the Newtown and Aurora massacres automatic weapons were used and the killers stockpiled ammunition. In the New York gun law it will decrease the amount of rounds in a weapon and also notify authorities of odd and large purchases of ammunition. If successful this system can help authorities track down and prevent tragic events like these from occurring. The ability to track the sale of ammunitions could help track down illegal sales. No avid gun user unless in the military or police force should have more than 5 rounds at a time. Limiting the amount of