The legislators of the state of New York approved this Thursday a new law that raises from 18 to 21 years the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles, as part of a package to increase gun control, following the recent massacre of Uvalde (Texas), in which 19 children were murdered.
“Our package legislation on weapons, a leader in the country, has just been approved by both chambers. New York is taking swift action to strengthen safety alert laws, close loopholes, and protect communities,” Governor Kathy Hochul, who will need to sign the law into law, wrote in a brief message.
In a subsequent statement, Hochul added that the new legislation offers the security forces the tools to “avoid easy access to weapons”.
The new law also prohibits the sale of ammunition that goes through bulletproof vests, the sale of bulletproof protection and reviews “red flag” law, to identify those people who could eventually cause harm to themselves or others if they are in possession of a weapon.
In this way, New York becomes the first state in the country to restrict the purchase of weapons after the Uvalde shooting and the recent massacres in Buffalo (New York) and Tulsa (Oklahoma).
In the Communiqué, Hochul stressed that the gun problem is national and urged Washington legislators to “seize this moment and take meaningful action to prevent gun violence.” .
Hours earlier, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, urged the federal Congress and Senate to ban the sale of assault weapons or, alternatively, to raise the minimum age to purchase them from the 18 to the 25 years.
Biden also called for high-capacity chargers to be banned, for background checks on potential buyers to be strengthened, for the law to be enforced to ensure safe storage of arms and that the immunity that protects arms manufacturers be “repealed”.
Yesterday, the New York Attorney General’s Office showed a strong hand against the arms sector homemade, subject to very restrictive legislation in the state, and ordered almost thirty companies to stop selling parts or be exposed to fines.
Homemade weapons (known as “ghost guns”) allow, from kits with parts, to assemble weapons that are difficult for the authorities to trace since they lack a serial number, and are usually used by people who cannot legally access weapons.
On the other hand, legislators have approved several measures to strengthen legal protection for abortion providers, as well as for women who come from outside New York to have an abortion in a context in which several states are opting to ban it and while waiting for the US Supreme Court to decide whether or not to nullify the right to abortion at the federal level.
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