Silver: Fixes To Gun Law No Big Deal
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told our NY1 colleague Zack Fink earlier today that the fixes to the gun control measure signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be swiftly approved.
“There’s no question that there are corrections that will have to be made — things that have to be made clearer,” Silver said. “But this bill is fine. People understand it, they know what they have to. There are some questions as to whether police can use assault weapons or multiple firing cartridges.”
Another clarification will likely need to add language that allows Westchester and Nassau counties, along with New York City, to continue their own firearm registration system as the state begins to compile its own database that would be exempt from the state’s Freedom of Information Law.
“We’ll make it clearer that that’s the intent,” Silver said.
Opponents of the bill — which includes some Democrats who voted against the bill in the Assembly — have said the measure’s swift passage caused the need for the clarifications. Sen. Phil Boyle, a Republican from Long Island who voted in favor of the measure, today announced he had introduced chapter amendments for the legislation.
Cuomo issued a message of necessity to waive the aging process for the bill so it could be passed quickly.
The Senate passed the measure Monday night, but the Assembly waited until Tuesday to debate the measure — a debate that lasted more than four hours in the chamber.
“I don’t know know what happened in the Senate side,” Silver said. “I do know that these bills are ones we have done for years, nothing startling, nothing new. We didn’t intend to pass it overnight, Monday night, but whether to adjourn and have a full debate on the issues during daylight and that’s what we did Tuesday.”
That’s an argument that lines up neatly with one made by Cuomo earlier today in Rochester, who said in a question-and-answer session that aspects of the law had been discussed “for decades” (it’s a familiar argument he’s made when he’s issued past messages of necessity, such as his pension bill and tax reform measure).
Silver said in the interview that he agreed with Cuomo’s concern that a drawn out process would result in a run on assault weapons the state was trying to include in its updated ban.
“People were lining up knowing this bill was coming down the pipe,” he said. “We didn’t want a proliferation of guns so we know we needed to do that.”
| Print article | This entry was posted by Nick Reisman on January 16, 2013 at 5:51 pm, and is filed under Albany, Andrew Cuomo, Assembly. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
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