Cuomo signs gun legislation

On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation holding gun manufacturers liable for the harm their products cause and closing a loophole that allowed people with outstanding warrants for their arrest to purchase guns.

“Of all the challenges we face every day in New York, few are as difficult to bear as the scourge of gun violence plaguing our communities,” Cuomo said in a statement.

This legislation closes a “loophole which has allowed people with active warrants to purchase guns for far too long. Now, if you have an active warrant, you cannot buy a gun in the State of New York, period.”

Among the merits of this new legislation package, “gun manufacturers cannot endanger the safety and health of the public through the sale, manufacturing, importing or marketing of the products they sell. The products can be considered a public nuisance even if the gun manufacturer did not purposely cause harm to the public,” information from Cuomo’s office notes. 

The second bill in the package, prohibits the sale, purchase or transfer of firearms to anyone known to have an outstanding warrant for a felony or serious offense. 

Second Amendment

In other gun-related news on Tuesday, Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-22, New Hartford, joined with 168 fellow House members in crafting a congressional amicus brief to be delivered to the U.S. Supreme Court, “defending our right to conceal carry under the Second Amendment to the Constitution,” notes a statement from her office.

The brief references the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Corlett court case, which “challenges New York’s onerous and arbitrary conceal carry restrictions, which unconstitutionally bar law-abiding New Yorkers from exercising their Second Amendment rights,” a statement continues.

The amicus brief was announced at a Tuesday Second Amendment rally in Ilion, where she was joined by state and local officials.

Said Tenney: “I am honored to lead this important congressional brief to the Supreme Court, which defends our ability to keep and bear arms for personal protection … This fundamental right is protected by the Constitution and it must be safeguarded. New Yorkers have endured attacks on our Second Amendment rights for decades, including from the unconstitutional SAFE Act. Radical politicians in Albany continue to attack our Second Amendment rights and now even threaten firearms manufacturers like Remington Arms. The stakes in this Supreme Court case could not be higher. This congressional brief sends a clear message that our Constitutional rights are not up for negotiation.”