The New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, commonly known as the NY SAFE Act, is a gun control law in the state of New York. The law was passed by the New York State Legislature and was signed into law by Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo in January 2013. The legislation was written in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and the Webster, New York, shooting. Cuomo described the law as the toughest gun control law in the United States.
The NY SAFE Act contains a number of firearms regulations. It also contains a severability provision that allows other measures to remain in place in case the broad prohibitions against weapons are invalidated by the courts.
Legislative history The New York State Senate approved the act on a 43–18 vote on January 14, 2013.Thomas Kaplan, Sweeping Limits on Guns Become Law in New York, The New York Times (January 15, 2013). The vote was bipartisan, with nine Senate Republicans voting in favor.Jimmy Vielkind, Senate set to vote on SAFE Act tweaks, Politico (July 8, 2015). State Senator Jeffrey D. Klein sponsored the legislation.Teri Weaver, NY senator pushes to ban gun sales, possession for those on U.S. terrorist watch lists, Syracuse.com (December 11, 2015).
The following day (the second full day of the 2013 legislative session), the New York State Assembly approved the legislation by a 104–43 vote, and Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law less than one hour later. The passage of the law made New York the first to pass restrictions on gun laws since the Sandy Hook massacre. Cuomo described the law as the toughest gun control law in the United States.
The bill passed under the "message of necessity" procedure, a device in the New York State Constitution by which the governor may expedite a vote on a bill, bypassing a usual three-day waiting period. Although nominally used for emergencies, the "message of necessity" procedure has been frequently used in New York to pass many pieces of legislation (it has been used at least 415 times since 1938).Michelle Breidenbach, The Safe Act "emergency": How Cuomo, past governors bypassed public to make laws, Syracuse.com (March 13, 2013).
Provisions The NY SAFE Act includes the following provisions:New York passes major gun control law – first since Newtown massacre - NBCNews.com, January 15, 2013
The act broadened the legal definition of assault weapon to include those semi-automatic rifles, semi-automatic pistols (handguns), and semi-automatic shotguns with one or more "military-style features, such as a telescoping stock, bayonet mount, flash suppressor, grenade launcher and others."Tom Precious, Appeals court upholds SAFE Act but rules against seven-bullet limit, Buffalo News (October 19, 2015).SAFE Act FAQ, Office of the Governor of New York. This "one-feature test" was a change from the previous "two-feature test," enacted in New York in 2000, which barred such weapons if they had two or more of the enumerated features.James B. Jacobs & Zoe Fuhr, The SAFE Act: New York's Ban on Assault Weapons and Large Capacity Magazines Criminal Law Bulletin (forthcoming, 2017). The bill provided a "grandfathering" provision allowing those with an assault weapon (under the newer, broader definition), to keep the weapon, but required that it be registered with the New York State Police (with a thirteen-month period to register and a deadline of April 15, 2014). There is no fee to register. Alternatively, owners of such weapons could avoid registration by selling the weapon to a New York State dealer or to someone out-of-state by January 15, 2014, or by permanently removing the design characteristics that make the weapon an assault weapon under the act. Under the act, the registry of assault weapons is confidential and not subject to public disclosure. The constitutionality of the assault-weapon prohibition was upheld by Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny in 2013,Thomas Kaplan, Federal Judge Upholds Majority of New York Gun Law, The New York Times (December 31, 2013). and this ruling was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2015. The act included a high-capacity magazine provision that has been found unconstitutional. According to that language, beginning on April 15, 2013, only magazines with a capacity of seven rounds could legally be sold in New York. The act allowed the continued possession of ten-round magazines purchased before that date, but made it illegal to load more than seven rounds of ammunition into a ten-round magazine except "at an incorporated firing range or competition recognized by the National Rifle Association or International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Association." Historic or antique guns (defined as those manufactured more than fifty years ago) were exempt from this requirement. The magazine provisions were struck down by Judge Skretny in 2013, and this ruling was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2015, allowing New York gun owners to "legally load 10 rounds in a 10-round magazine." Neither the act nor the subsequent court cases affected New York's pre-existing ten-round magazine limit. The act did not place a limit on the number of magazines that an individual could purchase at any one time. The act contains language requiring ammunition dealers to conduct background checks (similar to those for gun buyers) for ammunition purchases, as well as a ban on direct Internet sales of ammunition.Thomas Kaplan, Plan to Require Background Checks for Ammunition Sales Is Suspended in New York, The New York Times (July 10, 2015).Teri Weaver, Cuomo agrees to changes to NY Safe Act regarding ammunition sales, Syracuse.com (July 10, 2015). (Under the act, online ammunition sales to New Yorkers remain legal, but online buyers are required to purchase ammunition through a licensed dealer in the state and obtain the ammunition in person).Questions whether Safe Act deal changes anything, Associated Press (July 13, 2015). As of August 2019, the provisions of the act regarding ammunition background checks have never been implemented because a state database that would make such checks possible has not been created. In 2015, Governor Cuomo and Senate entered into an unusual "memorandum of understanding" suspending the ammunition background check provisions of the act, citing a "lack of adequate technology." The memo stated that the database "cannot be established and/or function in the manner originally intended at this time." The memo did not formally amend the act or have legal effect; according to the governor's office, however, it "provides assurances to all that the database will not be implemented until it is ready and tested." The act amended the New York Mental Hygiene Law to add a new reporting requirement for mental health professionals (including physicians, psychologists, registered nurses and licensed clinical social workers).The SAFE Act: Guidelines for Complying With the New Mental Health Reporting Requirement, New York State Psychiatric Association. Under this provision, which went into effect on March 16, 2013, mental health professionals currently providing treatment services to an individual must make a report to authorities, "if they conclude, using reasonable professional judgment, that the individual is likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to self or others." The reports are first sent to county officials, and "if they agree with the assessments, the officials then input the names into the state database. The information is retained for five years. If the authorities find a person in the database has a gun permit—necessary to purchase a handgun in New York—they are required to revoke the license and seize any guns. The people in the database are barred from obtaining a permit until their names are purged."Anemona Hartocollis, Mental Health Issues Put 34,500 on New York’s No-Guns List, The New York Times (October 19, 2014). The act requires owners to report lost or stolen guns and ammunition to authorities, and makes it a misdemeanor to fail to report such a loss or theft within 24 hours.A closer look at New York State’s gun laws, Obama’s directives, Buffalo News (January 9, 2016). The act created a universal background check provision, requiring all sellers or other transferors of firearms and ammunition to conduct background checks (through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS) of the prospective purchaser or other transferees, in "all sales, exchanges or disposals of firearms, rifles or shotguns" or ammunition, except those between immediate family members, provided that the transferring family member does not know that the transferee "is prohibited by law from possessing a firearm."James B. Jacobs & Zoe Fuhr, Universal Background Checking – New York State's SAFE Act, 79 Albany Law Review (forthcoming 2016). The act requires that a prospective firearm transferor and transferee process the sale via a federally licensed dealer (FFL), but "does not mandate that FFLs play this processing role." "An FFL, who does elect to provide the service, may not charge the parties more than $10 per transaction. The seller may leave the gun with the licensed dealer, but the purchaser must appear in person to show identification and fill out an ATF Form 4473," which is retained by the FFL. The act requires those who live with a household member "who has been convicted of a felony or domestic violence crime, has been involuntarily committed, or is currently under an order of protection" to "safely store" any guns, using "an appropriate locking device including a trigger lock, a gun safe, or a secure gun cabinet." Failure to do so is made a misdemeanor.Teri Weaver, New York's new gun law: Answers to some questions, Syracuse.com (January 16, 2013). The act amended New York Penal Law to establish "tougher penalties for those who use illegal guns as well as measures to help combat gang violence." The murder of a first responder engaged in official duties was made a Class A-1 felony, with a mandatory life-without-parole sentence. This was the "Webster provision," named for the 2012 Webster shooting, in which two firefighters were fatally shot by an arsonist.Jon Campbell, Webster Gun Provision, WENY (January 15, 2013).New York Senate passes tough gun law, Gannett Company (January 1, 2013). The act increases illegal possession of an unloaded gun and possession of a firearm on school grounds or a school from misdemeanors to a Class E felonies. The act provided that recklessly injuring a child by a firearm, as well as selling or transferring a gun to an individual known to be prohibited from possessing a gun, was a Class D felony. The act provided that "sharing a gun with an individual who is not authorized to possess a gun and commits a crime" was criminal facilitation. The act made straw purchasing (buying a gun "for someone the buyer knows to be disqualified because of a conviction of a crime, an involuntary commitment or other disqualifier") a Class D felony (it was previously a misdemeanor). The act created a mandatory minimum sentence for using or carrying a firearm in drug trafficking or in committing a violent felony – a minimum of five years if loaded, and three if unloaded, with some discretion for the court to impose lower sentences in drug trafficking cases if mitigating factors are present. The act allows prosecutors to seek a sentence of 25 years in prison to life imprisonment (an increase from the previous 15 years) in prosecuting gang members when the gang is involved in murder. The act requires the holders of handgun permits to be re-certified every five years with the local county clerk or sheriff.Rick Karlin, County clerks: State delays handgun permit updates under NY SAFE Act, Times Union (April 16, 2014).