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S1422Senate2013-2014 Session

Increases the penalty for the possession, use, or sale of certain firearms and ammunition and redefines "assault weapon"; repealer

Sponsor Ruben DiazSD-32+2 co-sponsorsAffects Legal
Status
In Senate Committee
Codes
Impact
Pending
Passage
Pending

Bill progress

Step 2 of 7

In committee · Codes

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Sponsors

Primary sponsor
Ruben Diaz

Senator · Senate District 32

History

  1. Print number 1422a
  2. Amend and recommit to codes
  3. Referred to codes
  4. Referred to codes

Full text

The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.

Sponsor's memo

BILL NUMBER:S1422A

Title of bill

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to increasing the penalty for the possession, use, or sale of certain firearms and ammunition, the definition of assault weapon, and to repeal subdivision 22 of section 265.00 of the penal law relating to the definition of an assault weapon

Purpose or general idea of the bill

Provides an updated description of assault weapons; closes the loophole regarding the possession of large capacity ammunition devices before September 13, 1994; increases the criminal possession of an assault weapon and large capacity ammunition feeding device from a class D to a class B felony and increases penalties for the use, possession and sale of firearms. Creates the new crime of unlawful possession of a firearm upon school grounds in the first and second degrees.

Read the full memo (792 words)

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1. Repeals the Penal Law, Section 265.00 (22). Adds a new subdivision 22. Provides an updated definition of assault weapons. Specifies the types of semi-automatic weapons and attachments that constitute an assault weapon.

Section 2. Amends the Penal Law, Section 265.00 by adding three new subdivisions, 26, 27 and 28. Adds and defines detachable magazine, muzzle brake and muzzle compensator.

Section 3 Amends the Penal Law, Section 265.20 by adding a new subdivision f. Provides exemptions for an assault weapon on property owned or immediately controlled by the person or while on the premises of a licensed gunsmith, and who prior to April 1, 2014 renders the assault weapon permanently inoperable or who surrenders the assault weapon to the appropriate law enforcement agency.

Section 4. Amends the Penal Law, Section 265.02 (8), (9) and (10). Defines "large capacity ammunition feeding device" regardless of when such device was manufactured.

Section 5. Amends the Penal Law, Section 265.04. Increases possession of an assault weapon and a large capacity ammunition feeding device from a class D felon,: to class B felony.

Section 6. Amends the Penal Law by adding two new sections, 265.45 and 265.47. Provides that unlawful possession of a firearm upon school grounds in the second degree is a class C felony (265.46), and that unlawful possession of a firearm upon school grounds in the first degree is a class B felony (265.47).

Section 7. Amends the Penal Law, Section 26.5.08, closing paragraph. Increases the penalty for criminal use of a firearm in the second degree from a class C to a class B felony.

Section 8 Amends the Penal Law, Section 265.09, (1) (2), closing paragraph. Increases the penalty for criminal use of a firearm in the first degree from a class B to a class A felony. Amends the sentencing

guidelines to allow judicial discretion in imposing a consecutive sentence.

Section 9. Amend the Penal Law, Section 265.11, closing paragraph. Increases the penalty for criminal sale of a firearm in the third degree from a class D to a class C felony.

Section 10. Amends the Penal law, Section 265.12, closing paragraph. Increases the penalty for criminal sale of a firearm in the second degree from a class C to a class B felony.

Section 11. Amends the Penal Law, Section 265.13, closing paragraph. Increases the penalty for criminal sale for a firearm in the first degree from a Class B to a Class A felony.

Section 12. Severability Clause Section 13. Effective Date

Existing law

Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2013, NY SAFE Act of 2013

Justification

On Monday December 24, 2012, William Spengler, Jr., reported a fire to the local fire department in Webster, NY. Then he waited with three guns, one of which was an assault rifle, for the firefighters to arrive. He killed two and seriously wounded two others. Mr. Spengler was a convicted felon, and as such, was prohibited by law from owning firearms. Somehow, he managed to obtain them anyway. This horrendous incident, the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut ten days earlier, in which 20 six and seven year-olds and 6 faculty and staff were murdered execution-style, and other mass shootings that have occurred - Columbine High School, where 12 students and one teacher were killed and 21 injured, the Clackamas Town Center Mall in Oregon, where 2 people were killed and 1 wounded, the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin where 6 people were killed and 4 wounded, the Century Movie Theater in Aurora, Colorado, where 12 people were killed and .58 wounded, and in broad daylight, Tucson, Arizona where six people were killed and 11 wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was severely wounded - clearly point to the need to ban assault-style weapons, for stricter gun control laws and increased criminal sanctions.

Prior legislative history

2013: S.1422: Referred to Codes

Fiscal implications

None

Effective date

Immediately

Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.