New York, first state to toughen gun laws

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New York state leaders will pass one of the toughest gun control laws in the United States on Tuesday.

A month after the massacre of young schoolchildren in Newtown, New York State became the first to strengthen its gun laws on Tuesday, claiming to show the way for the rest of the country.

Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, sometimes cited as a possible presidential candidate in 2016, last week invited elected officials from his state, where gun laws were already among the most restrictive in the United States, to pass “the law strictest assault rifle rule in the country ”,“ to show the way ”and“ to end the madness ”.

Of which act. The Republican-majority Senate adopted by 43 votes in favor and 18 against these new restrictions on the night of Monday to Tuesday. The Democratic-majority House followed suit on Tuesday and voted (104-43) in the afternoon, after several hours of heated debate.

The new law clarifies and expands the ban on assault weapons in New York State, filling several current loopholes. It bans magazines with more than seven rounds, makes background checks on buyers mandatory, including for private sales and ammunition sales.

To avoid massacres like the one in Newtown – perpetrated by an overarmed imbalanced youth who killed 20 CP children and six supervisory staff before committing suicide on December 14 – health workers will also have to report patients who ‘they consider it dangerous. If they have access to weapons, they can be seized.

Two other states with Democratic governors, Delaware and Maryland, also announced this week their intention to toughen their laws with similar measures. Connecticut is also thinking about it.

Delaware, whose Justice Minister Beau Biden is the son of Vice President Joe Biden, also intends to ban weapons within a 300-meter perimeter around schools.

A majority of Americans to ban assault rifles

The gun debate has not ceased since the Newtown massacre, one of the most serious ever at an American school, and one of the most traumatic, due to the age and number of victims.

At the federal level, the battle to change the law, however, promises to be particularly difficult, in an extremely polarized Congress, where the Republicans do not intend to cede anything to President Obama. The arms lobby, the powerful NRA (National Rifle Association) is also opposed to any change.

The Democratic president, who asked vice president Joe Biden for recommendations after Newtown, is due to announce his proposals on Wednesday.

He supports a ban on assault weapons, limiting magazine sizes and systematic background checks on buyers, but acknowledged that some proposals could fail in Congress.

Some measures discussed since Newtown, including the ban on assault rifles – a law that existed from 1994 to 2004 but was not extended – yet seem to have the support of a majority of Americans, according to two surveys.

55% are in favor of this ban (40% against) according to the Pew research center. A Washington Post / ABC News poll on Monday gave comparable percentages (58-39).

A vast majority of Americans (85-12), Republicans and Democrats, are also, according to Pew, for generalizing background checks of buyers, and want the imbalances to be prevented from gaining access to guns (80-16).

But, Pew points out, political consensus disappears when we talk about other measures.

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