For his first State of the State proposal, Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to make it harder for someone who has committed a serious misdemeanor in a different state to purchase a gun here in New York.
"Here we go again," says Tom King, Executive Director of New York’s Rifle and Pistol Association.
King says that this new proposal is just another restriction on people’s 2nd amendment rights. New York has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, and King says this is piling more on top of the already passed Red Flag Law and the SAFE ACT.
"What’s the purpose of this," King said. "The only thing that’s happening is lawful gun owners are having a more difficult time buying and owning firearms when they have done nothing wrong."
Right now, state law prohibits someone from buying a gun if they have committed what is classified as a serious offense misdemeanor here in New York.
This includes forcible touching, certain domestic violence crimes and the unlicensed possession of a firearm.
If Governor Cuomo’s proposal is adopted by the legislature, than people who have committed similar crimes in a different state, will also be banned from getting a gun license here in New York as well.
However, even some Democratic lawmakers, like Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbra, think that there are too many gun laws as it is and that this should not be a top priority for the state.
"Education has been discussed every year, it’s been a top priority every year that I have been in office and yet every year we seem to fall short of the funding that’s needed," explains Assemblyman Santabarbra. "That needs to be the priority. We have enough gun control. We don’t need to do anymore."
Serious crimes are already reported in each state to a website called NICS. This database is already used in New York to see if someone is convicted of a felony in a different state. If they have been, then the state could prohibit selling that person a gun. But since this new proposal, if passed, would go a step further, some might say it is infringing on other state's rights. So if this proposal were to be taken up, it could be challenged in court.