SPITZER 3/17/2015 10:42 AM 749 ARTICLES NEW YORK STATE AND THE NEW YORK SAFE ACT: A CASE STUDY IN STRICT GUN LAWS Robert J. Spitzer* I. INTRODUCTION The perennial political struggle over gun policy in America typically focuses, for understandable reasons, at the national level. Yet the American political system continues to be a system of federalism, where the states, and state policymaking, shape much of the American landscape. Thus, much attention was focused on President Barack Obama’s ultimately unsuccessful effort in early 2013 to press Congress to enact a series of new national gun laws in the wake of the uniquely senseless and brutal slaying of twenty children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. 1 Less recognized, however, was the fact that prolific action at the state level on gun policy exploded in 2013. The purpose of this article is to examine the case of New York—a state that has long been in the forefront of tougher gun laws, 1 and that has, in the minds of some, become a gun owner’s nightmare since its enactment of new gun regulations in 2013. But has it? With so much hand- wringing among gun rights activists nationwide about the reputedly adverse effects of stricter gun laws, it is not only useful, but * The author is Distinguished Service Professor and chair of the Political Science Department at SUNY Cortland. He earned his Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University in 1980. He is the author of fifteen books, including five on gun policy. His most recent book is GUNS ACROSS AMERICA: RECONCILING GUN RULES AND RIGHTS (forthcoming May 2015). 1 The Brady Campaign, a pro-gun control organization, ranks New York in the top five among states with the strictest gun laws. See 2011 Brady Campaign State Scorecard, BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE (2011), http://www.bradycampaign.org/sites/default/fil es/2011%20Final%20state%20scoresA3-2%20Sheet1.pdf (last visited Jan. 20, 2015). In its 2011 rankings, New York ranks fourth, behind California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. See id. For more on New York and related matters, see ROBERT J. SPITZER, GUNS ACROSS AMERICA: RECONCILING GUN RULES AND RIGHTS (forthcoming May 2015).
NEW YORK STATE AND THE NEW YORK SAFE ACT: A CASE STUDY IN STRICT GUN LAWS
Jul 05, 2023
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