Requires the surrender of antique firearms, black powder rifles, black powder shotguns, or muzzle-loading firearms following a conviction for a felony or serious offense or following a report pursuant to section 9.46 of the mental hygiene law.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A949
SPONSOR: Paulin TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to the surrender of antique
firearms, black powder rifles, black powder shotguns, or muzzle-loading
firearms following certain convictions
PURPOSE:
To require the surrender of antique firearms, black powder rifles, black
powder shotguns, or muzzle-loading firearms, that are owned, or
possessed by a person upon his or her conviction of a felony or serious
offense.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends paragraph (c) of subdivision 11 of section 400.00, of
the penal law, as added by chapter 1 of the laws of 2013, to add to any
firearms, rifles or shotguns owned or possessed, antique firearms, black
powder rifles, black powder shotguns, muzzle-loading firearms, which
shall be surrendered in any instance in which a person's license is
suspended or revoked under paragraph (a) or (b) of such subdivision 11.
Section 2 sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Under current law, when a person is convicted of a felony or serious
offense or an order of protection is issued for victims of family
offenses in certain circumstances, the court shall revoke any existing
license of that person to possess a firearm and order the immediate
surrender of any firearms that person owns or possesses. The law does
not, however, provide for the surrender of antique firearms, black
powder rifles, black powder shotguns, or muzzle-loading firearms even
though it is a crime under existing law to possess a rifle, shotgun,
antique firearm, black powder rifle, black powder shotgun, or any
muzzle-loading firearm if the person possessing such a weapon has been
convicted of a felony or serious offense. There is a clear inconsistency
in the law where we have established it is illegal to possess a partic-
ular weapon under certain circumstances but we do not require the
surrender of such weapon under precisely those circumstances. This bill
will address the gap in the law so that where a person is prohibited
from possessing a firearm or other weapon, he or she must surrender such
firearm or weapon under the relevant circumstances. Closing this gap in
the law will also enable us to better ensure the safety and well-being
of domestic violence victims.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.3926,2021 and 2022, referred to codes.
A.418, 2019 and 2020, referred to codes.
A.2414, 2017 and 2018, referred to codes.
A.7291, 2015 and 2016, referred to codes.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Effective immediately and shall apply to suspensions and revocations of
licenses on or after such effective date.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
949
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 11, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to the surrender of antique
firearms, black powder rifles, black powder shotguns, or muzzle-load-
ing firearms following certain convictions
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 11 of section 400.00 of the
2 penal law, as added by chapter 371 of the laws of 2022, is amended to
3 read as follows:
4 (c) In any instance in which a person's license is suspended or
5 revoked under paragraph (a) or (b) of this subdivision, such person
6 shall surrender such license to the appropriate licensing official and
7 any and all firearms, rifles, [or] shotguns, antique firearms, black
8 powder rifles, black powder shotguns, or muzzle-loading firearms, owned
9 or possessed by such person shall be surrendered to an appropriate law
10 enforcement agency as provided in subparagraph (f) of paragraph one of
11 subdivision a of section 265.20 of this chapter. In the event such
12 license, firearm, shotgun, [or] rifle, antique firearm, black powder
13 rifle, black powder shotgun, or muzzle-loading firearm is not surren-
14 dered, such items shall be removed and declared a nuisance and any
15 police officer or peace officer acting pursuant to his or her special
16 duties is authorized to remove any and all such weapons.
17 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall apply to
18 suspensions or revocations of licenses on or after such effective date.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02158-01-3
