BILL NUMBER: S5729

SPONSOR: HARCKHAM
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to adding hazardous air
quality to the state definition of a disaster and including air quality
emergency preparedness in local comprehensive emergency management plans

 
PURPOSE:

Directs the state police to develop regulations pertaining to the bulk
purchase of firearms or ammunition and flagging those bulk purchases for
further review for the purpose of investigating potential criminal
activity.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Adds a new section 236 of the executive law to empower the
superintendent of state police to establish and maintain within the
division of state police a central repository of information regarding
firearms or ammunition purchased in bulk for further review within the
              

context of the statewide license and record database outlined in section
400.02 of the penal law.

For the purposes of this section, the term "firearms or ammunition
purchased in bulk" shall refer to unusually large purchases firearms,
shotguns or ammunition as determined by the superintendent.

The superintendent is also required to adopt regulations prescribing
reporting procedures for any purchases of firearms or ammunition
purchased in bulk by credit card, debit card, PayPal, e-wallet, e-check,
Lyra or any other payment system.

The superintendent shall also adopt rules and regulations pertaining to
the review of information contained in the central repository for the
purpose of investigating potential criminal activity.

Section 2: Provides for an effective date.

 
EXISTING LAW:

Section 400.02 of the penal law establishes a statewide license and
record database created and maintained in the custody of the division of
state police.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In 2018, a New York Times investigation uncovered eight cases when mass
shooters used credit cards to purchase large amounts of weapons and
ammunition before they committed their heinous crimes. The individual
who opened fire inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida purchased
two firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition with six separate
credit cards spending $26,000 in two weeks.

James Holmes used credit to help buy more than $11,000 in guns,
grenades, a gas mask and other military gear before he opened fire on a
movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado killing twelve.

A further Times examination of mass shootings since the Virginia Tech
attack in 2007, reveals how credit cards have become a crucial part of
the planning of these massacres.

There have been 13 shootings that killed 10 or more people in the decade
from 2008-18, and in at least eight of them, the killers financed their
attacks using credit cards. Some used credit to acquire firearms they
could not otherwise have afforded.

Those eight shootings killed 217 people. The investigations undertaken
in their aftermath uncovered a rich trove of information about the kill-
ers' spending on credit.

Since banks and credit card companies seem reluctant to help combat
their unwittingly financing mass shootings by reporting large purchases
of weapons to law enforcement, it is inherent upon the State of New York
to take action to protect its residents and review bulk purchasing of
firearms and ammunition for potential criminal activity.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.4737 of 2023-2024; Referred to Finance;

S. 9555 of 2022: New Bill, Referred to Rules

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.