BILL NUMBER: S2284

SPONSOR: CLEARE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the general business law, in relation to manufacturers'
reporting requirements for the sale or distribution of firearms

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To require manufacturers of firearms sold in New York to report to the
Department of Criminal Justice Services the number of firearms they
manufacture and sell on an annual basis.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

The general business law is amended by adding a new article 39-DDDD. S
898-a. Firearms; manufacturer reporting requirements. Manufacturers who
sell or distribute firearms in this state shall report to the department
of criminal justice services the number of firearms they manufacture and
sell on an annual basis. "Firearm" has the same meaning as such term is
defined in subdivision three of section 265.00 of the penal law.
              

 
CURRENT LAW:

Current law requires any person licensed as a firearms dealer in the
state (which does not include dealers selling only long guns) to keep a
record of every transaction involving handguns, short-barreled shotguns
or rifles, and assault weapons, including the date, name, age, occupa-
tion and residence of any person who receives or delivers such guns, and
the caliber, make, model, manufacturer's name and serial number of the
firearm. The original transaction record must be forwarded to the Divi-
sion of State Police within ten days of delivering a handgun, short-bar-
reled shotgun or rifle, or assault weapon to any person, and the dealer
must keep a duplicate.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The laws governing the operation of the gun industry are porous and
weak. The federal agency charged with oversight of the industry, the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), has been
historically underfunded, understaffed and politically vulnerable,
making it nearly impossible for the agency to conduct consistent, effec-
tive regulatory oversight activities.

While efforts to reduce gun-violence have focused on the demand side of
the problem, the role of the gun industry manufacturers in manufacturing
and distributing the guns needs further attention.  Currently, Gun
manufacturers are subject to relatively little oversight by ATF upon
receiving their license to operate.  Manufacturers are required to main-
tain records of their firearm production and sales and are subject to
one potential annual inspection of inventory and records to assess
compliance' with applicable laws and regulations. In addition, licensed
manufacturers are required to report to ATF annually on the production
of firearms, even if a manufacturer did not produce any firearms during
the reporting period. Compliance by manufacturers appears to be poor.

In 2017, only 3,430 of the 11,946 licensed firearm manufacturer licen-
sees reported to ATF on their production. This suggests two possibil-
ities: that only 29 percent of licensees completed this requirement
during 2017, meaning that the reported number of firearms manufactured
in the United States that year could be an undercount, or that a signif-
icant number of licensed manufacturers paid their fees but did not
produce any weapons.

In 2019, ATF employed only 770 industry operations investigators (I0Is),
the professional staff who conduct compliance inspections of Federal
Firearms Licensees, to oversee the more than 53,000 retail gun dealers
and 13,000 licensed manufacturers that were in business that year. These
same personnel were also responsible for inspecting the more than 9,500
licensed explosives manufacturers and dealers in business that year. ATF
investigators were only able to conduct 13,079 compliance inspections of
firearms licensees, meaning that 83 percent of those licensed by ATF to
manufacture or distribute guns did not receive an inspection that year.
These inspections are crucially important: In fiscal year 2019, 47
percent of the licensees inspected were found to have violations, and
the violations that were discovered ranged from failure to properly
complete the paperwork necessary for crime gun tracing to failure to
conduct a background check.(Parsons, Chelsea. "The Gun Industry in Amer-
ica - Center for American Progress." Center for American Progress, 2020,
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/gunscrime/reports/2020/08/06/
488686/gun-industry-america/.)

Many companies report weapons production in one year, and then disappear
from the ATF data record as if they had ceased operations, only to reap-
pear in later years. Having a statistical understanding with regards to
how many firearms are lawfully produced and lawfully sold to the state
of New York will result in an increased awareness of how many firearms
are entering the state every year and how many are being distributed to
licensed dealers and private sellers.  "Though New York has some of the
strongest gun laws in the nation, those who can't legally purchase guns
in the state based on age or criminal background often turn to the black
market ... Nearly 70 percent of the 8,439 firearms recovered in. New
York in 2013 came from out of state, according to the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Many of them were acquired legally in
Southern states with looser gun laws and smuggled north through the 1-95
corridor, known as the 'iron pipeline." (Albany Times Union, 7/14/15).

This legislation will empower New York law enforcement to determine
whether all the firearms manufactured by a particular company are actu-
ally sold through legal channels. The danger posed to our citizens, in
the event that any number of such firearms are legally manufactured and
not legally sold or distributed (and therefore adding to black market
inventory), is painfully obvious.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

A 4456 referred to economic development

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately