In layman’s terms: Democrat NY lawmakers introduced legislation to ban semi-automatic firearms rather than hold criminals accountable for illegally modifying them. It is not yet law and unclear whether it will become law in the future.
On Tuesday, May 7, New York State Senator, Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat, introduced a bill that would effectively ban the sale of some of the most popular semi-automatic pistols in America, rather than hold criminals accountable for their actions.
Legal firearms, including the popular Glock brand, can be illegally modified to perform what is functionally automatic fire. There is however no manufacturing or design defect with these pistols, which are popular with legal gun owners and have been around since the 1980s. Glock’s model 19X sold over 100,000 copies in less than six months after the pistol’s release, according to a 2018 press release by the company.
The proposed law adds to New York’s string of Democrat-sponsored gun control measures, such as “red flag” laws and bans on “ghost guns” and bump stocks. However, under the federal National Firearms Act (NFA), it is already illegal to possess a fully-automatic firearm that is not registered. This proves that Democrat anti-gun legislation is meant to disarm the law-abiding, rather than address criminal activity.
Under the bill, “Any person, dealer, firm, partnership, or corporation” that sells, transports, or ships “as merchandise a convertible pistol” would be committing a felony. Like all Democrat anti-gun legislation, it exempts the sale of such guns to law enforcement or the military.
A ban on semi-automatic pistols would certainly lead anti-gun groups to push for a similar ban on any other type of semi-automatic firearm. Behind the currently proposed disarmament law is anti-civil liberties group Everytown for Gun Safety, which helped draft the legislation, according to officials at the group.
There are no Constitutional grounds under which the new legislation can survive. In typical fashion, Myrie’s bill relies on the “public safety” argument which has been expressly forbidden in Bruen. “This is an attempt by New York to protect our constituents,” he said. “Other gun makers do not have this problem. This is a refusal-to-address-an-issue problem.”
Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, came out against the law indicating that support of such laws show that many politicians don’t understand how guns operate.
In 2019, Democrat Representative for Texas, Sheila Jackson Lee, incorrectly claimed that AR-15 rifles fire .50 caliber ammunition and that the weapons are “as heavy as 10 boxes that you might be moving.”
The New York law, if passed, is certain to be challenged by Second Amendment rights groups.
