Following the murder of ten black individuals by 18-year-old Payton Gendron at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a comprehensive package of new gun-related regulations on Monday.
New Yorkers under the age of 21 will no longer be able to purchase high-powered semiautomatic rifles, rules and regulations governing the state’s power to seize guns from people deemed dangerous will be strengthened, and social media companies will be required to set up a system for reporting online threats.
‘We are taking bold, strong action in New York. At the signing ceremony, Hochul added, “We’re reinforcing red flag regulations to keep guns away from dangerous people.”
Hochul signed bills raising the age of purchase for semi-automatic firearms, modifying red flag regulations, requiring micro-stamps on new weapons, and restricting the sale and purchase of body armor.
Bulletproof vests and body armor will likewise be more difficult to come by in New York. Making a threat of a mass shooting or bombing is now a criminal punishable by up to a year in prison in New York state.
The governor, a Democrat, signed ten gun-related bills into law, including one that requires new weapons to be microstampered in order for cops to track them down during criminal investigations.
Because he was wearing a bulletproof vest and a Kevlar helmet, Payton Gendron, 18, was able to survive a shootout with a security guard at the store.
Because he was wearing a bulletproof vest and a Kevlar helmet, Payton Gendron, 18, was able to survive a shootout with a security guard at the store.
Prior to the bill signings, the governor remarked, “Gun violence is a cancer that is tearing our nation apart, and it is currently the number one killer of children in America.”
The bills were passed by the state legislature last week, just before the spring session ended.
Gendron, the Buffalo gunman, bought two semi-automatic guns and body armor months before carrying out his murderous attack at Topps Supermarket in Buffalo on May 14.
Because he was wearing a Kevlar helmet and bulletproof vest, he was able to survive a shootout with a security guard in the supermarket.
Hundreds of pages of papers put online just before the shooting outlined the killer’s preparations and racist motivation. On a gaming chatroom website, he also streamed a live footage of the shooting.
Genderon had threatened to shoot up Susquehanna Valley High School shortly before his graduation.
The incident, which appeared to be racially motivated, claimed the lives of ten persons, all of whom were black.
Family members are mourning the deaths of 19 elementary school pupils at Robb Elementary, where they were shot in their classrooms.
After the threat, he spent a day and a half in the hospital, but state police did not flag him in a state database that would have prevented him from obtaining the guns.
Gendron was charged with 10 charges of first-degree murder and domestic terrorism last week.
He was additionally charged with first-degree murder in the shooting, as well as murder and attempted murder as hate crimes and weapons possession. He had previously been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting. He entered a not guilty plea.
Gendron is accused of killing ‘because of the presumed race and/or color’ of his victims, according to the domestic terrorism indictment. The new laws may have prevented many of his crimes.
Hochul said, “Today is the beginning, but it is not the end.” ‘Thoughts and prayers will not solve the problem; only firm action will.’ We will do so in memory of those who have died, and for the parents who will no longer be able to see their children get off the school bus.’
New York will continue to engage in preventing gun-related crimes by engaging with local communities and putting pressure on Congress, according to the governor.
Following the killings in Buffalo and mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Philadelphia, the issue of gun controls revived.
Similar laws have been introduced in a number of states, including Utah, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Vermont, and Washington, which would require customers to be at least 21 years old to purchase certain types of long firearms.
However, these states may face legal challenges.
The state of California’s effort to raise the legal buying age for semi-automatic guns has been called into question.
A federal appeals court panel in northern California ruled 2-1 on May 11 that the state’s ban on the sale of semiautomatic guns to adults under the age of 21 is unconstitutional.
Legal battles over other states’ gun laws are inevitable, with the state’s concealed carry permit restrictions already set to be overturned by the Supreme Court.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks shootings across the country, there were 14’mass shootings’ over Memorial Day weekend across the United States, including Uvalde, where a deranged gunman killed 19 elementary school children and two teachers, and Tulsa, where four people were killed.
The ‘Protecting Our Kids Act,’ which would raise the purchasing age of certain semiautomatic centerfire rifles from 18 to 21 across the country, was reintroduced by the House Judiciary Committee last week.
The federal legislation also targets high-capacity magazines, ghost guns, and bump stocks, as well as establishing certain storage regulations for firearms in residential settings.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for one, has committed to look at the assault weapons prohibition, which expired in 2004.
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Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., whose son was a victim of gun violence a decade ago, has introduced federal red flag legislation, which is anticipated to be voted on this week.
The gun restriction measures are expected to face stiff opposition from Republicans, and they are likely to be defeated in the Senate.
President Joe Biden encouraged Congress to enact such broad gun control measures in a televised speech on Thursday evening.
‘This is not about taking away anyone’s guns,’ he insisted. It’s not about making gun owners look bad. We believe that responsible gun owners should be treated the same way that all gun owners should be treated.’
‘However, the Second Amendment is not absolute,’ Biden continued.
The president then turned the issue into an election year issue, urging voters to make gun control “essential to their vote.”
Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) are collaborating on a more limited gun control bill that focuses on state-based red flag systems, school safety, and mental health programs.
Biden acknowledged that an assault weapons ban is unlikely to pass, but stated that the minimum age for such guns should be raised from 18 to 21.