Senator Serrano and Democratic Conference Unveiled Anti Gun Violence Legislative Package

During Donald Trump’s recent address to the National Rifle Association the President made it clear that not only will the federal government stop efforts to curb gun violence, but it will actually roll the clock back on common sense restrictions and protections. In addition to President Trump’s anti-firearm safety rhetoric, the Senate Republican/IDC Coalition actually weakened the New York SAFE-Act in the 2017-2018 State Budget.

In response, the Senate Democratic Conference and I are supporting a series of bills to protect New Yorkers from gun violence. This legislative package is part of our ongoing Resistance Agenda against President Trump.

The dangerous policies being presented on the federal level are jeopardizing all the great progress we have made on gun control in New York State. This is why my New York State Senate Democratic Conference colleagues and I have introduced a comprehensive anti-gun violence "Resistance Agenda" legislative package. This package, which includes my bill S.3444, that would require gun dealers to sell only child-proof weapons, will curb gun violence and protect New Yorkers.

The other bills included in the Senate Democrats’ anti-gun violence Resistance Agenda legislative package include efforts to: 

* Limit the sale of guns to an individual to one per 30-days. 
* Create a comprehensive, 10-day waiting period during which a background check for the purchase of firearms will be performed, and will establish background checks for gun dealer employees. 
* Prohibit someone convicted of a hate crime from buying or owning a gun. 
* Allow families victimized by gun violence to sue manufacturers. New York courts ruled that this type of legal action could not occur in New York under common law, but in other states this technique is the main remedy for families in the case of mass shooting deaths, such as the families of the Sandy Hook victims. 
* Create a Task Force on the public health impact of firearms. As federal law prohibits researching gun violence, a state-based study would be a historic way of better exposing mass gun violence and supporting future policy changes. 
* Establish extreme risk protection orders. This legislation will create an easier standard for acquiring an order of protection based on the harm that a gun owner can do compared to a non-gun owner. 
* Create the Children's Weapons Prevention Act which mandates that gun owners store their firearms at home in a locked box. 
* Prohibit the possession or manufacture of any firearm, rifle, or shotgun, which is undetectable by an X-Ray machine, metal detector, or magnetometer. 
* Create a center for research into firearm-related violence.

I stand proudly with my colleagues in support of these commonsense measures to keep New York a safe and desirable place to live, work and raise a family. I will continue to advance pro-safety legislation and will lead the resistance to President Trump, his dangerous policies and his allies in Washington as well as in New York.