Governor Andrew Cuomo says curbing gun violence will be a priority in the next legislative session.
The governor, who has been a long time gun control advocate, did not champion any gun control bills during the legislative session that ended earlier this summer. Cuomo says in the new session, which begins in January, that will change.
“The gun violence has reached an undeniable point where it’s hard for anyone to refute the damage that’s being done,” said Cuomo. “It’s time to find out what else we can do and explore what else we can do.”
Cuomo did not offer specifics but says he backs a bill now in the state Senate that would require micro-stamping of cartridges to help police better identify and track guns used to commit crimes.
State Senator Michael Gianaris, a Queens Democrat, proposed a package of bills earlier in the week that the senator says could make New York the toughest state in the nation against illegal guns.
The measures include limiting hand gun purchases to one per month and requiring a 10-day waiting period for gun purchases and mandatory safety courses for buyers. Gun dealers would have to work more closely with law enforcement, and report all sales of firearms to the state’s Division of Criminal Justice, where they’d be kept on file for a decade.
