After the US Supreme Court struck down the state’s 100-year-old law that made it hard to carry a hidden handgun outside the home last week, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York signed a bill into law on Friday that makes it harder to carry a gun in places like government buildings and schools. Hochul called a special session of the legislature on Thursday to talk about the problem.
She then said that she had quickly signed the bill after it passed. “I just signed a new law to keep New Yorkers safe, despite a major setback from the Supreme Court,” she said in a tweet that thanked lawmakers for their “quick work and collaboration to pass these important gun safety reforms.” On Thursday, lawmakers worked out the final text of the bill.
On Friday, after some debate, the bill was put to a vote, which Republicans said was too fast. On Friday, the state Senate passed the bill along party lines, 43 to 20, and the state Assembly passed the bill that evening, 91 to 51. The legislative text says that the new law will make it hard to get a permit to carry a gun on your person. There will also be a list of “sensitive” places, like Times Square, where guns will not be allowed.
Breaking News: New York lawmakers passed a bill prohibiting firearms in many public places, a week after the Supreme Court struck down a state gun control law. https://t.co/Wbo0ELlAdg
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 2, 2022
Other places that are considered sensitive include government buildings, schools, hospitals, places of worship, and public transportation. People who carry guns in places where they are not allowed could be charged with a felony. Hochul talked about why the bill was made and some of its details at a news conference in Albany on Friday morning.
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Hochul said, “With the stroke of a pen, (the Supreme Court) got rid of long-standing restrictions that helped us in New York make smart decisions about who should be allowed to carry a gun.” “We think that these gun laws have made New York a safer place.” The law makes it hard to get a licence to carry a gun on your person. It requires background checks before selling ammunition, which Hochul says is not aimed at legal gun owners.
Under the law, gun owners with children under the age of 18 living in their homes will have to store their guns in safe places. This is an increase from the previous age of 16, which was set at 16. Democratic leaders have said that they expect gun rights supporters to challenge the law in court, but they think the language of the law will hold up.
Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the leader of the majority in the New York State Senate, said at a news conference on Friday that the language was carefully written after the Supreme Court’s decision. “We wanted to make sure that our permit process could stand up to scrutiny, and the technical parts took a long time.
But we are sure that we are giving New Yorkers a chance not only to be able to carry guns under their clothes, but also to be safer “Stewart-Cousins pointed out. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that New York’s gun law was unconstitutional. The law said that anyone who wanted to carry a concealed pistol or revolver in public had to get a licence and show “proper cause” for it.
Applicants had to show that they had a “real and articulable” need for self-defense, not one that was “speculative or phoney.” Hochul said that the Supreme Court’s decision was “shocking” and “frightening” in how it set back the country and our ability to protect its people. She also said that it was “especially painful” that the ruling “came down at this time, when families are still hurting from the loss of life, their beloved children and grandchildren, in mass shootings.”
In May, a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in a mostly Black neighbourhood of Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people. The police say this was a racist hate crime. This week, the governor called back state lawmakers for a special meeting to pass gun laws.
Last month, Hochul signed a package of laws that made the state’s gun laws stricter. One of these laws made the minimum age to buy a semiautomatic rifle 21.
