Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence New York Million Mom March Chapters

Washington, D.C. – New York has made good progress in passing laws to keep criminals and other dangerous people from easily obtaining guns, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The new redesigned scorecards are being released today for all 50 states.
 
New York earned 51 points out of a total of 100 and has the nation’s sixth strongest gun laws.
 
New York has in place some key laws to prevent gun trafficking, such as licensing of firearm owners and requiring background checks all gun sales at gun shows.  “New York is doing a better job than most states in adopting laws designed to make it harder for criminals and other dangerous people to access guns,” said Jackie Kuhls, Executive Director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.
 
The Brady Scorecards are designed so that states can score up to 100 points across five major categories of laws: Curbing Firearm Trafficking; Strengthening Brady Background Checks; Child Safety; Banning Military-style Assault Weapons; and making it harder to carry Guns In Public Places.  The national state-by-state scores are available in complete category-by-category detail at www.bradycampaign.org.
 
New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and the New York Million Mom March Chapters of the Brady Campaign are looking to improve New York’s state laws and score by cracking down on corrupt gun dealers and adding microstamping to the state’s crime solving ballistics tools.  The latter should involve improving crime gun and ballistic evidence protocols.  The gun dealer legislation improves dealer security requirements and inventory records, and requires that employees receive training on how to identify “straw purchases.”  The legislation passed the New York Assembly last session but Senate leaders refused to act.
 
“While we are proud of New York’s progress and national ranking, more needs to be done, said Edie Smith, President of the New York Million Mom March Chapters.  “We won’t stop until we attain a perfect score of 100.”
 
The Brady Campaign scorecards provide a new and redesigned analysis of whether states are enacting the laws needed to protect citizens from gun violence.  The new scorecards also show states how their gun laws can be strengthened and their scores improved.
 
The categories covered by the New York 2007 scorecard are as follows: 

• States can earn up to 35 points by taking all measures needed to “Curb Firearms Trafficking.”  States can fully regulate the gun dealers within its borders, limit bulk purchases of handguns, provide police certain technology to identify crime guns, and require lost or stolen guns to be reported to the police.  New York scored 15 points in this category.
• States can earn up to 25 points by “Strengthening Brady Background Checks.”  This involves requiring universal background checks and requiring a comprehensive permit in order to purchase firearms.  Short of universal background checks, states can also close the gun show loophole, at least requiring background checks for all gun show sales.  New York scored 13 points in this category.
• States can earn up to 20 points by “Protecting Child Safety” when it comes to guns.  States can require that only childproof handguns be sold within their borders, require child safety locks sold with each weapon, hold adults accountable for keeping guns away from kids and teens, and require gun purchasers to be at least 21 years of age.  New York scored only five points in this category.
• States can earn up to 10 points by “Banning Military-style Assault Weapons,” as well as banning high-capacity ammunition magazines.  New York scored eight points in this category.
• In a miscellaneous category, states can earn up to 10 points by making it harder to carry “Guns In Public Places” (except for trained law enforcement and security) and by “Preserving Local Control” over municipal gun laws.  This includes keeping guns out of workplaces and college campuses, not forcing law enforcement to issue concealed handgun permits on demand, not permitting “shoot first” expansions to self-defense laws, and not preventing cities from passing their own gun laws. New York scored all 10 points in this category.

We acknowledge the research of Legal Community Against Violence on state gun laws.  Their publication, “Regulating Guns in America,” and website served as a basis for our analysis.  For more information about Legal Community Against Violence, see www.lcav.org.
 
As the nation’s largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence, the Brady Campaign, with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, works to enact and enforce sensible gun laws, regulations and public policies.  The Brady Campaign is devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities. 
 
For continuing insight and comment on the gun issue, read Paul Helmke’s blog at www.bradycampaign.org/blog/.  Visit the Brady Campaign website at www.bradycampaign.org.