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History
- Referred to codes
- Referred to codes
Companion bill
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Establishes a safety course requirement for firearm license
In Assembly Committee · Codes · Sponsor Brian Kavanagh
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S3935
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to the issuance of a license to carry a firearm
Purpose
This bill adds a mental health component to the requirements for firearm licensing. It also requires that applicants successfully complete a firearm safety course approved by the superintendent of state police and receive a certificate of completion before a license will be issued or renewed.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision 1 of section 400.00 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 189 of the laws of 2000, to include additional requirements for firearm licensing. The bill broadens the current regulations to include a mental health component prohibiting issuance or renewal of a license if the applicant has previously had a guardian appointed to them pursuant to any provision of law based on a determination that as a result of marked subnormal intelligence, mental illness, incapacity, condition or disease, he or she lacks the mental capacity to contract or manage their own affairs. It further requires that applicants successfully complete a firearm safety course and receive a certificate of completion, endorsed and affirmed under the penalties of perjury, by a duly authorized instructor and approved by the superintendent of state police.
Section 2 of the bill establishes the effective date.
Justification
Perpetrators of acts of firearm violence often display indications of mental illness long before they commit crimes. The tragic loss of life recently suffered in Arizona is a dark reminder of the need for more common-sense firearm licensing requirements. A mechanism for reviewing an applicant's mental stability before issuance or renewal of a firearm license is imperative to averting such shootings in the future and ensures that only those who are mentally competent are allowed to own such dangerous weapons. Growing concern regarding easy access to firearms by people with mental health issues has led a number of states to pass legislation barring firearm licensure to those with a history of mental illness. This bill will ensure that New York is among the states that currently require that firearms are kept out of the hands of the mentally disturbed; the list of people whose lives have been savagely cut short by gun violence demands nothing less.
Legislative history
2010: S.5489 Held in Codes 2008: S.3341B (Krueger) Held in Codes 2007: S.3341 Held in Codes 2006: S.2341 Held in Codes 2005: S.2341 Held in Codes 2004: S.4426 Held in Codes
2003: S.4426 Held in Codes 2002: S.6895 Held in Codes
Fiscal impact on the state
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.