Following the two tragedies in New York State and Texas, New York Governor, Kathy Hochul as well as state lawmakers announced a deal on 31 May on bills that will raise minimum age to buy automatic rifles to 21.
This has been necessitated by a series of mass shootings at Buffalo supermarket and Texas elementary school that left dozens of dead.
This has triggered a renewed call for a review of gun laws at the national level.
On May 14, at least 10 people, all Black were killed at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo. They were shot by Payton Gendron, 18.
Later Salvador Ramos, 18, gunned down 19 children as well as two teachers at an elementary school in Texas. The attacker was killed by the police. Ramos is alleged to have posted photos of guns online and made threats before he went out to shoot people.
Both users made use of semi-automatic rifles known as AR-15s which are legal in New York.
“New York already has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, but clearly we need to make them even stronger,” New York State governor said in a statement on May 31.
“New Yorkers deserve to feel safe in schools, in grocery stores, in movie theatres, in shopping malls, and on our streets — and we must do everything in our power to protect them.”
The new laws includes measures prohibiting the sale and purchase of body armour for anyone not in law enforcement and closing loopholes that allow the sale of weapons.
Going forward anyone in New York seeking to buy semiautomatic rifle, must be at least 21 years old. This is up from 18 years.
“Our nation has been brought to a moment of reckoning due to weapons of war that have been too easily accessed by those seeking to kill,” state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) said.
“These weapons have made places in our communities like schools, grocery stores, houses of worship and concerts places of carnage.”
“Just 10 days separated the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde that took the lives of 31 people. Nowhere else in the world is this happening,” said Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx).
“We are in desperate need of a conversation about guns, but we are also in desperate need of action.
“I hope that one day we’ll see the end to the horrific gun violence we see in this country. But until then, I will keep fighting,” he added.
Lawmakers are expected to vote on the new bills before the scheduled end of the legislative session on June 2.
New York State police will be required to conduct inspections of all gun dealers every 3 years.
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