Gun Control: Paulin's Bill Passes in the Assembly and a Letter to the Editor

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-88) announced that legislation she authored regarding gun control, was passed by the New York State Assembly.

The bill requires individuals to surrender any firearms, rifles, shotguns, black powder rifles, black powder shotguns, muzzle-loading firearms and antique firearms he or she owns when he or she is convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence crime.

"The law right now has a big hole," Paulin said. "When a person is convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, he or she cannot buy or possess a firearm under federal law. But if he already owns a gun and he's convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, there's nothing in the law that says he has to give up his guns. That makes no sense at all."

Current law provides that when a person is convicted of a felony or serious offense or an order of protection is issued for victims of family offenses, the court must revoke that person's firearms license and all firearms possessed by the person must be immediately surrendered. Misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence are not included.

"We need to close this loophole so we can better protect those who are most in danger of being hurt, victims of domestic violence," Paulin said. "The risk of leaving a weapon in the hands of an abuser is simply too great."

Statewide polls indicate that 78 percent of New York voters and 67 percent of gun owners in New York support the surrender of guns by those convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. Intimate partner homicide is the most frequent type of domestic homicide. Nearly one-quarter of the victims in all homicides in the state had a domestic relationship with their offenders in 2013.

Letter to the Editor:

The letter below was sent to Scarsdale10583 by Jeff Roderstrong in response to "Village Trustees Consider Laws to Regulate Gun Dealerships and Gun Storage". 

To the Editor:

As parents, the most important thing to us is our children's safety. We applaud the Scarsdale Village Trustees for considering how to make sure our community is safe from the epidemic of gun violence that kills 93 Americans a day. We've seen what happens when guns aren't kept in the hands of responsible adults: the US has some of the least restrictive gun laws in the world—and Americans are 25 times more likely to be murdered by a gun than people in other developed nations.

Unfortunately, the Scarsdale Trustees will be powerless to set their own community safeguards if the gun lobby succeeds in pushing Congress to enact a "Concealed Carry Reciprocity" bill, as they are currently trying to do. Such a bill would force New York, with our strong gun violence prevention laws, to accept concealed carry permits from other states that have lower standards. In fact, at least 12 states don’t require any permit or background check at all to carry a loaded hidden gun in public. People would be free to carry concealed firearms into our neighborhoods with zero credentials or oversight. In addition, this bill could eliminate "gun free zones" in schools, which President Trump has repeatedly promised to do.

Scarsdale residents should urge the Trustees to determine the best ways for the Village to ensure guns stay in the hands of safe responsible adults. We also encourage them to call their representatives in Congress and speak out against the dangerous Concealed Carry Reciprocity policy--because if that passes, it won't matter what the village does.

-Jeff Raderstrong, on behalf of Moms Demand Action Westchester volunteers.
 
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America was created to advocate for stronger laws and policies that will reduce gun violence and save lives. They are a non-partisan grassroots movement of American mothers demanding solutions to address our country's dangerous culture of gun violence, which jeopardizes the safety of our children and families.