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Who cares
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Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Print number 784a
- Amend and recommit to codes
- Referred to codes
- Referred to codes
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, the vehicle and traffic law and the general business law, in relation to criminal use of a firearm in the first degree and to repeal certain provisions of the penal law relating thereto
Purpose
To provide stiffer sentences to criminals who use firearms to commit felonies.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of this bill amends section 265.09 of the Penal Law to provide that an actor is guilty of the offense of criminal use of a firearm in the first degree when he or she commits a felony while either possessing a loaded deadly weapon or displaying what appears to be a pistol, revolver, rifle, shotgun, machine gun or other firearm. This section also makes conforming amendments to the sentencing provisions of Penal Law section 265.09.
Read the full memo (687 words)
Section 2 of this bill repeals Penal Law section 265.08, criminal use of a firearm in the second degree, because the elements of this offense are entirely included in Penal Law section 265.09 as amended by this bill.
Section 3 of this bill makes conforming technical changes to the Penal Law.
Section 4 of this bill makes conforming technical changes to the Vehicle and Traffic law.
Section 5 of this bill makes conforming technical changes to the General Business Law.
Section 6 of this bill provides that this act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Existing law
Penal Law section 265.09 only applies to situations where the offense being committed is a class "B" violent felony and Penal Law section 265.09 only applies to situations where the offense being committed is a class "C" violent felony.
Justification
Currently, a person can be charged with criminal use of a firearm in the first degree or second degree when the offense that he or she is committing with such firearm, real or fake, is either a class "B" violent felony or a class "C" violent felony. If the actor is committing a class "B" nonviolent felony, such as criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, he or she cannot also be charged with criminal use of a firearm in the first degree. When any felony is committed while the actor possesses a firearm, regardless of whether it is real, fake or unloaded, the actor should be subject to the same enhanced penalties. It is the possession of the firearm that triggers the enhanced penalties, not the underlying offense.
Additionally, the enhanced penalties contained in Penal Law section 265.09, relating to criminal use of a firearm in the first degree, only apply where the assailant actually carries a loaded weapon capable of being fired. Perpetrators who only display what appears to be a firearm are guilty of criminal use of a firearm in the first degree, but are not subject to this increased penalty. There is no basis for this distinction. Those who use actual firearms, and those who carry fake or unloaded firearms, carry them for the same primary purpose; to intimidate their victims into submission. Victims of these crimes cannot be expected to distinguish between real and fake or unloaded firearms when they perceive themselves to be at gunpoint.
The public safety is jeopardized regardless of whether the firearm used to commit a felony is fake, real, or unloaded. Accordingly, the law should treat these acts with equal severity, and criminals should not be allowed to avoid the enhanced sentencing provisions contained in Penal Law section 265.09 merely because the gun he or she used was not, in hindsight, capable of being fired.
Legislative history
2015: S.784 - Referred to Codes 2014: S.2237-D - 3rd Reading Calendar 2013: S.2237-C - 3rd Reading Calendar 2012: S.1407-B - Passed the Senate 2011: S.1407-B - Passed the Senate 2010: S.2110-A - Referred to Codes 2009: S.2110 - Referred to Codes
Fiscal implications
None
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the date on which 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.