A Way to Push Back – Write Gun Rights Legislation by John Elwood
It seems that all gun rights advocates hear is the constant drum beat of Democrat bills to circumvent the Second Amendment. For example, in 2023 alone:
California enacted an 11 percent tax on guns and ammunition, making it the only state with its own tax on guns and ammunition.
Illinois passed an assault weapons ban; the law prohibits the possession, manufacture or sale of semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines.
Massachusetts is considering giving firearm licensing authorities’ access to some of an applicant’s mental health hospitalization history and expands the list of people who can petition the court to take away someone’s guns if they are deemed dangerous.
In New York State, citizens face the same extreme effort to take away, or at least infringe on one of the most important amendments of the United States Constitution – the Second Amendment; “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Five examples are a small sample of what New York Democrat lawmakers are pushing during the 2023-2024 legislative two-year period. They include:
A03314 requires liability insurance for owners of firearms, rifles, and shotguns.
A00442 establishes the offense of unlawful possession of firearms by persons under twenty-one.
Open carry talking points were provided by a SCOPE member to his New York State Senator Mark Walczyk and Walczyk recently introduced S8609, which expands the firearm license to have and carry concealed, without regard to employment or place of possession. In other words, Open Carry in NY State.
S8609 was referred to the Senate codes committee on February 21, 2024, and is currently pending action. Currently the bill does not have an accompanying NY Assembly SAME AS bill, but gun rights advocates are working to acquire that SAME AS bill. SCOPE supports S8609.
Gun rights advocates must get off the defensive and onto the offensive by doing three things to fight back:
A08443 grants the NY Attorney General (NYAG) the power to investigate, seek injunctive relief and prosecute any out of state individual or retail firearms seller should they knowingly sell ammunition to a resident of NY State without contacting the NY State Police for authorization. This includes prosecuting any individual who purchases ammunition on behalf of a New York state resident.
S0093/A01566 restricts the sale of ammunition only to individuals authorized to possess such weapon and creates a no-gun database under the division of the criminal justice services.
A00754 prohibits entry to gun shows to anyone under twelve years old.
You very seldom hear of gun rights bills introduced into the NY State legislature. Why aren’t gun rights bills introduced in the New York State Senate or Assembly very often? Why don’t you write gun rights legislation yourself and pass it to your legislator? Times might start to change!
Support S8609 by discussing and convincing lawmakers to support the bill.
Engage their lawmakers to write more gun rights legislation. If need be, provide talking points to lawmakers, and follow up to ensure lawmakers are doing what gun right advocates want. Fight fire with fire. S8609 is an attempt by gun rights advocates to legislatively start fighting back.
Vote. Winning elections has consequences. By virtue of winning an election, the victor’s agenda takes priority above all else. It is estimated that between 3–4-million-gun owners don’t vote. Do they feel that firearms legislation pushed by the left won’t affect them? That couldn’t be farther from the truth. If gun owners persist in not voting, the outcome is clear; our sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters will not have the same gun rights as we do today.
Gun rights advocates must start flooding the New York state legislature with gun rights bills. Individuals and SCOPE chapters should produce and track gun rights legislation of their choice and make sure legislators push their bill(s). State legislators work for you. Start putting them to work and then verify their efforts.
