Democrats in the New York state Senate say they will push harder for gun control bills in the wake of the Florida shooting that left 17 dead and are even considering proposing the measures as hostile amendments.
Before they left for the President’s week break, Democrats in the State Senate pushed for more measures to strengthen gun control in New York. The state already has one of the strongest gun laws in the nation. Known as the SAFE Act, it was passed shortly after the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut at the request of Governor Cuomo. It limited assault-style weapons and requires more detailed background checks for gun buyers. It also enacted stiffer penalties for illegal gun possession and required mental health professionals to report patients to law enforcement authorities if they think they might do harm with a weapon to themselves or others.
But Democratic Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins says more can be done to help prevent mass shootings and other types of gun violence.
“We respect the second amendment but that doesn’t mean we should allow dangerous people to have firearms,” Stewart-Cousins said.
Among the bills backed by the Democrats - banning possession of bump stocks, devices which increase the firing power of semi-automatic weapons. Bump stocks were a factor in the mass shooting in Las Vegas in the fall of 2017, where a gunman killed 58 people.
Other measures would extend the current three-day waiting period before buying a gun to ten days, and close what Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Michael Gianaris says is a “glaring loophole” in the law that allows sales to go through after three days even if the background check is not completed.
The package of bills also allows victims of gun violence to sue the firearms manufacturer for negligence, says Senator Jamaal Bailey.
“Because somebody’s making these guns,” Bailey said. “Aggrieved individuals should have their day in court.”
Governor Cuomo has also proposed additions to the state’s gun control laws, including extending laws which confiscate the firearms of people who commit domestic valance to include misdemeanor offenses.
After the Florida shooting, the governor pointed out that a database created through the SAFE Act contains the names of over 75,000 New Yorkers who are mentally ill and deemed a potential danger to themselves or others. He says if any of them want to buy a gun, they would be prohibited under the law.
Cuomo spoke on CNN shortly after the Florida incident, where he condemned a move in Congress to strengthen gun rights measures, including allowing concealed carry weapons across state lines, saying it’s the wrong way to go.
“It would be total mayhem,” Cuomo said on February 15th.
But the governor said he thinks Congress may change their views if public pressure continues.
Many of the New York State measures backed by Cuomo and the Senate Democrats are also supported in the Democratic-led State Assembly. But the Republicans who lead the Senate have not been receptive so far to new gun control measures. While a number of GOP Senators voted for the SAFE Act in 2013, other Republican senators were opposed, and five years later, still want to repeal the measure, saying there are other ways to keep school children safe.
A spokesman for the Senate Democrats, Mike Murphy, says they will push more strongly for the bills when they return on February 27th and are considering bringing amendments to the Senate floor in order to force a vote. They say they believe they have enough supporters for the measures to pass.
