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It appears all the discussion about gun control wasn't just talk, as New York state has now passed the nation's first new gun law since the Sandy Hook massacre.
In the wake the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, late last year, New York lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged action on broad gun control legislation. Both the majority-Republican Senate and the majority-Democratic Assembly passed the bill easily.
New York already had incredibly strong gun laws, but the new law will tighten the bans on certain kinds of weapons. The intent is to prevent high-fatality shootings.
The debates over gun control in the last month have often focused on the danger of assault weapons and high capacity magazines, reports NBC News. Many of the changes to New York's gun control law address that directly.
Some of the major new stipulations include:
It's not just the purchase and sale of guns that will change in New York, according to Reuters. The new law also puts responsibilities on individuals for reporting instances of potential violence. For example:
That last provision is similar to one in Connecticut's gun control laws that allow police to confiscate weapons of anyone reported as potentially dangerous.
New York's gun law, called the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act (or the NY SAFE Act of 2013), passed the Senate on Monday and the Assembly on Tuesday afternoon. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign the bill into law quickly, so it can take immediate effect.
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