- By NYS Senator Mike Nozzolio
- News
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State Senator Mike Nozzolio announced Wednesday that a formal signed agreement to halt the SAFE Act ammunition database and background check program was reached today by and State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and Governor Cuomo. The agreement comes as a result of extensive negotiations throughout the last several weeks."This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement is a victory for every law-abiding gun owner in New York State," said Nozzolio. "The ammunition database and background check requirements of the SAFE Act relied on unproven technology, and establishing it would have cost New York State taxpayers upwards of $100 million - a colossal waste of tax dollars. The establishment of this database was an affront to all law abiding gun owners and those who believe as strongly as I do in our 2nd Amendment rights."
Under the two-way agreement, the statewide ammunition database program is suspended and "no expenditures of state monies shall be allocated for the purposes of purchasing and installing software, programming and interface required to transmit any record for the purpose of performing an eligibility check" for buying ammunition unless both parties agree to proceed. The necessary steps to establish the database and background check directive in the SAFE Act are suspended unless the State Senate provides its express approval.
New York State Rifle and Pistol Association President Tom King said, "I would like to thank New York State Senate Republicans for their efforts to partially repeal portions of the SAFE Act. Even though it was not completed during the past legislative session, the Republican leadership continued to negotiate with the Governor, resulting in today's memorandum of understanding. We appreciate their efforts and we look forward to working with the Republican leadership to repeal the remainder of the SAFE Act during the next legislative session."
Although Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie of the Bronx refused to participate in negotiations, the MOU language formally halts the ammunition background check program. Senate Republicans were successful in removing ammunition database allocations proposed by the Governor in the New York State budget but sought a more official solution.
The formal MOU agreement was signed by Governor Cuomo's Director of State Operations James Malatras, and New York State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan.
Led by Nozzolio's efforts, this agreement was forged by Senate Republicans and Majority Leader John Flanagan during the recently completed negotiations that wrapped up end-of-session issues such as the renewal of the property tax cap, property tax rebate checks for homeowners, Common Core reforms and the evaluation process for teachers.
"Senator Flanagan kept his word that he would work with us to make real changes to the SAFE Act," said Nozzolio. "He has shown strong leadership in getting positive results that are important to the people of Upstate New York and my Senate district."
The repeal of the ammunition background check was a part of legislation Senator Nozzolio sponsored, (S.5837/A.8196) which contained a number of reform provisions, and was passed in the State Senate this session. Other provisions would allow immediate family members to inherit firearms as part of an estate as long as a background check was conducted; reform the recertification process; and provide more protections for individuals' data on pistol permits while still requiring the state to release aggregate data; and require the state to provide clearer due process rights.
The SAFE Act of 2013 required that sellers must determine a purchaser's eligibility to possess ammunition by a currently non-existent, on-line State Police operated database. The ongoing costs were to be borne by state taxpayers, who would also be required to pay for the equipment needed to conduct the background checks at each point of sale –every retailer across the state that sells ammunition. By stopping the SAFE Act ammunition database and background check program, these costly, onerous and ineffective requirements have been eliminated.
The Senate Republicans' efforts also stopped a number of proposals from becoming law, including the following:
- DEFEATED a proposal to BAN and confiscate 50 caliber firearms and ammunition: S.2050, Sponsored by Senator Squadron from New York City;
- DEFEATED a proposal to REQUIRE, under penalty of law, the locked storage of firearms in the home: S.2491, Sponsored by Senator Krueger from New York City;
- BLOCKED from consideration the requirement to MICROSTAMP ammunition: S.1113, Sponsored by Senator Peralta from New York City;
- BLOCKED from consideration the requirement that all gun owners purchase expanded and very expensive additional liability insurance: A.5864, Sponsored by Assemblyman Ortiz from New York City.
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