S04150 by John Elwood
In 2022, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a New York law on who is allowed to carry a concealed weapon in public by ruling that the New York law was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled the ability to carry a pistol in public was a constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment.
The Constitution never seems to stop Governor Hochul.
Eight days later, on July 1, 2023 New York State Governor Hochul signed into law the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA). Significant provisions of the CCIA includes an ammunition background check (backdoor registration) prior to the purchase of ammunition, a fee of $2.50 for each purchase of ammunition, as well as a $9.00 fee for any purchase of a firearm, rifle or shotgun.
And the anti-2A Left never stops.
On November 29, 2023, Democrats in the United States Congress, led by Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico), Mark Kelly (D -Arizona), Michael Bennett (D-Colorado), and Angus King (I-Maine), introduced the most sweeping list of gun prohibitions in the 21st century, including prohibiting nearly all semi-automatic handguns. The bill labelled the “Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion Act (GOSAFE) will require all semi-automatic rifles above .22 caliber to have a permanently affixed magazine capacity of 10 rounds or fewer while outlawing magazines of higher capacity. Further, the bill requires government approval of any future semi-automatic firearm design before production occurs. Finally, the bill will also ban build-it-yourself ghost gun kits.
In 2024, New York State Democrats will continue their goal of gun control by bringing forth an avalanche of gun control bills to the New York State Legislature. In 2023, they included: A03314; S02978; S01701/A07885; S07364/A07489; S00930/A01566; A00754, A00442; S07365; A05049/S02635; and S04150.
S04150 is a particularly egregious bill. S04150 requires limiting the acquisition of a rifle, or shotgun to one every ninety-day period. S04150 was introduced on February 23, 2023 and was sent to the consumer protection committee. Provisions of S04150 do not apply to police officers, and would take effect 180 days after signed into law by the New York State Governor. The bill states a violation of S04150 is a class A misdemeanor.
Class A misdemeanors are the most serious type of misdemeanor. Someone can be punished for a class A misdemeanor is up to 1 year in jail. Additional penalties include fines, community service, three (3) years’ probation, and driver’s license suspension. If convicted of a misdemeanor, it can stay on your record forever, but a 2017 New York State bill allows for the sealing of one misdemeanor conviction under certain circumstances.
S04150 is partisan bill sponsored by State Senator James Sanders, a Democrat from New York City (district 10 - Queens). (There is no corresponding SCOPE chapter to Senator Sanders’ district.) Currently, he is the chairman of the NY State Senate Committee on Banks. An attempt was made to ask Senator Sanders why he feels there is a need for this bill, and what is his source research document, but the Senator did not respond to this author’s inquiry.
Obviously, Shooter’s Committee on Political Education (SCOPE) OPPOSES S04150.
It seems like democrats from New York City are in competition with each other to determine who can create the most draconian firearm legislation, and impose it on New York State citizens. The good news is there is no SAME AS bill for S04150, meaning there is no corresponding Assembly bill working through the Assembly at the same time S04150 works through the New York State Senate. However, gunowners (SCOPE) cannot rely that a corresponding Assembly bill does not appear in 2024.
I continually hear there are 4 to 5 million-gun owners in New York and if NY State gunowners all voted we would not be in danger of losing our Second Amendment rights.
OK, we all agree Second Amendment restrictions are unconstitutional, but how do we fight back? SCOPE is, “A Second Amendment Defense Organization, defending the rights of New York State gun owners to keep and bear arms!” SCOPE’s mission statement states we accomplish our mission by, “Tirelessly making every effort to educate anti-gun politicians, and publicly speaking and debating gun issues with anti-gun organizations”. Ask yourself, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS? I’m not just talking about SCOPE board members, but ALL SCOPE members.
If ALL SCOPE members aren’t actively writing and calling your legislator to OPPOSE S04150, we are not doing enough! If we are not voting because we think these restrictive gun laws won’t affect us, we are WRONG and we aren’t doing enough! If we are not educating ourself on gun laws, and then debating anti-gun organizations, we are not doing enough!
SCOPE is trying to synchronize its efforts with other Second Amendment organizations and making donations to help fund a lawsuit against violations of the Second Amendment. But it won’t be enough until we have stopped this flood of anti-2nd Amendment legislation and that will require members to act individually as well as a part of SCOPE.
OPPOSE S04150!
