Florida school shooting prompts renewed gun law push in NY

ALBANY — Five years after New York enacted one of the nation’s toughest gun laws in the SAFE Act, the tragic litany of shootings, most recently at a Florida school, is prompting a renewed push for measures despite long odds in the Republican-led Senate.

“After the SAFE Act, we now have a comprehensive background check,” said Rebecca Fischer, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. “Now, however, some time has passed and lawmakers are seeing we are going to fall behind.”

A number of bills to put restrictions on guns have so far languished in Senate committees, often where the measures have died in past years. The bills don’t progress because under Senate rules majority members must sponsor most bills and Republicans so far have not voted gun bills out of committee.

Bills sponsored by Democrats in both houses include: A ban on “bump stocks” that allow legal semiautomatic rifles to shoot like rapid-fire assault rifles; “extreme risk protection orders” that allow courts to seize weapons from those deemed a danger; prohibiting anyone convicted of a hate crime from owning a gun; extending the three-day waiting period after buying a gun to 10 days; requiring those convicted even of a misdemeanor domestic abuse charge to surrender their weapons; increased penalties for shooting at children under 10 years old and stiffer sentences for shootings near playgrounds and schools.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo proposes to remove firearms from abusers in domestic violence cases, and that proposal may have the best chance of passage. Similar measures have passed in other states, including in conservative states.

Some of the bills have passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly, but none is so far backed by the Senate’s Republican majority.

Senate Republicans have called for national legislation, citing Democratic Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s report last year that found 70 percent of guns in crimes came from seven states, including Florida. GOP senators also bristle at Democrats’ claims that the Republican opposition is because of campaign contributions from National Rifle Association-affiliated groups and supporters.

“Campaign contributions have absolutely no effect whatsoever on public policy,” said Scott Reif, spokesman for the Senate’s Republican majority. “We take our responsibility to lead and to govern seriously, and as such every issue is considered and decided on the merits.”

On Jan. 15, 2013, Cuomo signed the SAFE Act, also known as the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, within a month of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre that took the lives of 26 children and adults in Newtown, Connecticut. The SAFE Act made more rifles subject to a state ban on assault weapons, increased sentences for illegal gun possession and required mental health officials to report safety concerns about any patients with access to guns.

The 2013 act remains one of the most restrictive gun-control laws among states, even though a federal judge struck down the limit of seven bullets to a clip and a proposed database of ammunition sales is so far underfunded and difficult to devise.

“We actually did something in the state of New York,” Cuomo said Friday, in calling for Washington to do the same. “We passed something called the SAFE Act, which is basically common sense gun control. It says number one you have to do a background check.”

There has been no substantial gun-control legislation in New York since then and Cuomo and some Senate Republicans say there is little more the state can do. The SAFE Act, however, also cost Cuomo much of his upstate popularity and cost the legislative careers of three Republican senators who voted for the measure.

“I think they are extremely cautious to approach the gun issue, especially in an election year,” said Robert J. Spitzer, distinguished professor of political science at the State University of New York at Cortland and author of several books including “Guns Across America — Reconciling Gun Rules and Rights.”

“Their [majority] margin is very precarious in the state Senate,” Spitzer said. “So I think they are trying to walk a very fine line. Behind closed doors, I think there is sentiment to make tweaks . . . but I don’t think they publicly can for political and ideological reasons.”

For example, he noted that even if the Senate Republicans support some new measures, they could get hammered in a GOP primary by more strict gun-rights candidates. Senate Republicans also get thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the NRA and its supporters in their uphill battle in the state dominated 2:1 by Democratic voters.

Senate Republicans also face an upstate-downstate divide, which is evident on this issue in polls that show far more support for gun-control measures downstate and strong sentiment for gun-ownership rights upstate. Opponents of many gun-control bills say the measures unfairly target law-abiding gun owners and are ineffective against criminals.

The Florida shooting will be another flashpoint for gun-control activists when the legislature returns to Albany Feb. 28 and potentially in the fall elections.

“We are taking steps to reach out to the Senate Republicans and will be bringing constituents to their offices and making calls,” said Fischer, of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. “The gun lobby has gotten into the ears and pockets of many legislators in Washington and also at the state level . . . (but) I think there are Senate Republicans interested in representing the values and priorities of their constituents and they just need to hear from them more.”

Tom King, of the Albany-based New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, the NRA’s affiliate in New York, declined to comment.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.