NY State Senate Bill 2021-S5814A

Senate Bill S5814A

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to establishing a voluntary waiver of the right to purchase firearms, rifles or shotguns

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to finance
Apr 21, 2021	print number 5814a
Apr 21, 2021	amend (t) and recommit to finance
Mar 19, 2021	referred to finance

Bill Amendments

Original

A (Active)

2021-S5814 - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A1033
Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Add §221-e, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2019-2020: A11121
2023-2024: S2086, A565

2021-S5814 - Summary

Relates to establishing a voluntary waiver of the right to purchase firearms, rifles or shotguns; requires the division of state police to maintain statewide records of individuals who have waived the right to purchase firearms, rifles, or shotguns and any revocations of such waivers.

2021-S5814 - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S5814

SPONSOR: KAVANAGH
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to creating a statewide
registry for individuals waiving the right to purchase firearms, rifles
or shotguns

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill would create a statewide registry to allow individuals to
waive their right to purchase firearms, rifles or shotguns.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one amends the executive law by adding section 221-e to create a
statewide registry of individuals who waive of the right to purchase
firearms, rifles and shotguns, as well as a process by which the waiver
can be filed and revoked.

Section two provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed widespread uncertainty. The world
has been upended, and there is so much despair. Gun violence has
increased, with frequent shootings recounted in New York and around the
country. Reported suicides, which were already on the.rise according to
the Centers for Disease Control, and have accounted for two-thirds of
gun deaths in the United States, have been increasing in the current
environment. According to the Bloomberg American Health Initiative,
"while firearms are used in less than 10 percent of all suicide
attempts, they account for more than half of all suicide deaths."

Recently in The Wall Street Journal, Frederick Vars and Ian Ayres advo-
cated a legislative solution in "Suicide Accounts for Most Gun Deaths. A
Libertarian Approach Could Help." Their plan is straightforward: to
create a registry that allows people to voluntarily give up their right
to purchase guns, but also to provide the individuals the ability to
revoke that decision at a later time if they so choose. Washington and
Virginia have recently enacted legislation, and nine other states,
including Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, have introduced simi-
lar bills in the legislatures. Vars and Ayres have conducted research
and published numerous articles supporting this proposal, including a
survey where 46 percent of 200 psychiatric patients in Alabama indicated
that they would sign up for a version of the registry if given the
opportunity.

A registry of individuals who voluntarily waive their rights to purchase
firearms, rifles and shotguns can have an impact on all these sobering
statistics. Essentially, it is allowing people to create a self-imposed
pause, similar to a waiting period. This is critical since waiting peri-
ods have been shown to reduce the incidence of suicide; in a study
published in an article "Looking Down the Barrel of a Loaded Gun: The
Effect of Mandatory Handgun Purchase Delays on Homicide and Suicide," by
Griffin Edwards, Erik Nesson, Joshua J. Robinson and Frederick Vars
(Dec. 7, 2017), the abstract stated: "We find that the existence of a
purchase delay reduces fire-arm related suicides by between 2% and 5%
with no statistically significant increase in non-firearm suicides."
Although the lasting effect of waiting periods is disputed by some,
since suicide attempts by firearm usually result in suicide, keeping
guns out of the hands of suicidal individuals can have a huge impact.
Moreover, this remains an entirely reversible registry, into which some-
one who recognizes their own vulnerability can elect willingly, volun-
tarily and confidentially, and then can revoke the voluntary waiver
after twenty-one days. This registry has the potential to sav e lives.
In conclusion, we are in a pandemic that has seen millions of Americans
suffering in a myriad of ways. New York State should enact this bill to
create a registry that will allow people the opportunity to voluntarily
take steps to protect themselves from themselves.  Creating an option
for people to ban themselves from purchasing firearms, rifles and shot-
guns has the potential to save them from hurting themselves and from
hurting others.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2020 - A.11121 (Paulin) referred to governmental operations

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall have become a law.

2021-S5814 - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5814
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 19, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. KAVANAGH -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance
 
 AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to creating  a  statewide
   registry  for  individuals  waiving  the  right  to purchase firearms,
   rifles or shotguns

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 221-e
 to read as follows:
   § 221-E. RIGHT TO PURCHASE FIREARMS, RIFLES, OR SHOTGUNS WAIVER REGIS-
 TRY. 1. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, THE  FOLLOWING  DEFINITIONS  SHALL
 APPLY:  (A) "WAIVER" MEANS A VOLUNTARY WAIVER OF THE RIGHT TO PURCHASE A
 FIREARM, RIFLE, OR SHOTGUN; AND
   (B) "REGISTRY" MEANS THE STATEWIDE REGISTRY OF  INDIVIDUALS  WHO  HAVE
 WAIVED  THE  RIGHT  TO  PURCHASE FIREARMS, RIFLES, OR SHOTGUNS AS ESTAB-
 LISHED BY THIS SECTION.
   2. THE DIVISION OF STATE POLICE SHALL DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN A STATEWIDE
 REGISTRY OF INDIVIDUALS WHO WAIVE THE RIGHT TO PURCHASE FIREARMS, RIFLES
 OR SHOTGUNS AS SET FORTH IN SUBDIVISION  THREE  OF  THIS  SECTION.  SUCH
 REGISTRY  SHALL  BE  MAINTAINED  BY  THE DIVISION OF STATE POLICE AS SET
 FORTH BY THE SUPERINTENDENT AND SHALL BE MAINTAINED  FOR  INTERNAL  USE.
 THE  DIVISION OF STATE POLICE SHALL ENTER EACH WAIVER INTO THE REGISTRY,
 THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND  CHECK  SYSTEM  AND  ANY  OTHER
 FEDERAL OR STATE COMPUTER-BASED SYSTEMS USED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
 OR  OTHERS  TO  IDENTIFY  PROHIBITED  PURCHASERS OF FIREARMS, RIFLES AND
 SHOTGUNS WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF RECEIPT OF THE WAIVER.
   3. AN INDIVIDUAL MAY FILE A VOLUNTARY WAIVER OF THE RIGHT TO  PURCHASE
 A FIREARM, RIFLE OR SHOTGUN WITH THE DIVISION OF STATE POLICE, IN A FORM
 THAT  SHALL  BE  DETERMINED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, SUCH INDIVIDUAL SHALL
 THEN BE PROHIBITED FROM PURCHASING FIREARMS, RIFLES  AND  SHOTGUNS.  THE
 DIVISION  OF  STATE  POLICE SHALL REQUEST PHOTO IDENTIFICATION TO VERIFY
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD02158-01-1

 S. 5814                             2
 
 THE INDIVIDUAL'S IDENTITY PRIOR TO ACCEPTING SUCH FORM.  THE  INDIVIDUAL
 FILING  THE WAIVER SHALL PROVIDE AN ALTERNATE INDIVIDUAL TO BE CONTACTED
 IF THE WAIVER IS REVOKED AS  SET  FORTH  IN  SUBDIVISION  FOUR  OF  THIS
 SECTION.    THE  WAIVER  SHALL  BE ENTERED IN THE REGISTRY CREATED UNDER
 SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION ON THE SAME DAY IT IS FILED.
   4. NO SOONER THAN TWENTY-ONE DAYS AFTER FILING A WAIVER AN  INDIVIDUAL
 ON THE REGISTRY MAY FILE A REVOCATION OF THE WAIVER WITH THE DIVISION OF
 STATE  POLICE  IN A FORM THAT SHALL BE DETERMINED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT.
 THE DIVISION OF STATE POLICE SHALL REQUEST PHOTO IDENTIFICATION TO VERI-
 FY THE INDIVIDUAL'S IDENTITY PRIOR TO ACCEPTING SUCH WAIVER.  THE  DIVI-
 SION  OF STATE POLICE SHALL REMOVE SUCH INDIVIDUAL FROM THE REGISTRY AND
 SHALL ENTER THE REVOCATION OF THE WAIVER INTO THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIM-
 INAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM AND ANY OTHER FEDERAL  OR  STATE  COMPUTER-
 BASED  SYSTEMS  USED  BY  LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES OR OTHERS TO IDENTIFY
 PROHIBITED PURCHASERS OF FIREARMS, RIFLES AND  SHOTGUNS  WITHIN  TWENTY-
 FOUR HOURS OF RECEIPT OF THE REVOCATION FORM, TO INDICATE THAT THE INDI-
 VIDUAL  IS  NO LONGER A PROHIBITED PURCHASER DUE TO THE VOLUNTARY WAIVER
 OF THE RIGHT TO PURCHASE FIREARMS, RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS.
   5. A WAIVER PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION MAY NOT BE REQUIRED OF  AN  INDI-
 VIDUAL AS A CONDITION FOR RECEIVING EMPLOYMENT, BENEFITS OR SERVICES.
   6.  NO RECORDS REQUIRED BY THIS SECTION SHALL BE SUBJECT TO DISCLOSURE
 AND SHALL BE CONFIDENTIAL WITH RESPECT TO ALL MATTERS  INVOLVING  HEALTH
 CARE,  EMPLOYMENT,  EDUCATION,  HOUSING, INSURANCE, GOVERNMENT BENEFITS,
 AND CONTRACTING.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it shall have become a law.

2021-S5814A (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A1033
Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Add §221-e, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2019-2020: A11121
2023-2024: S2086, A565

2021-S5814A (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S5814A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S5814A

SPONSOR: KAVANAGH
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing a volun-
tary waiver of the right to purchase firearms, rifles, or shotguns

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill would allow individuals to waive their right to purchase
firearms, rifles or shotguns and require the state police to enter such
waivers into the national criminal background check system.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends the executive law by adding section 221-e
to allow individuals to waive their right to purchase firearms, rifles
and shotguns, as well as a process by which the waiver can be filed and
revoked. This section requires the state police to maintain statewide
records of those individuals who have chosen to waive their right to own

a firearm, rifle, and shotgun as well as report the information to the
national criminal background check system. This section also sets forth
privacy protections for such records.

Section two of the bill sets forth the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed widespread uncertainty. The world
has been upended, and there is so much despair. Gun violence has
increased, with frequent shootings recounted in New York and around the
country. Reported suicides, which were already on the rise according to
the Centers for Disease Control, and have accounted for two-thirds of
gun deaths in the United States, have been increasing in the current
environment. According to the Bloomberg American Health Initiative,
"while firearms are used in less than 10 percent of all suicide
attempts, they account for more than half of all suicide deaths."

Recently in The Wall Street Journal, Frederick Vars and Ian Ayres advo-
cated a legislative solution in "Suicide Accounts for Most Gun Deaths. A
Libertarian Approach Could Help." Their plan is straightforward: to
create a mechanism that allows people to voluntarily give up their right
to purchase guns, but also to provide the individuals the ability to
revoke that decision at a later time if they so choose. Washington and
Virginia have recently enacted legislation, and nine other States,
including Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, have introduced simi-
lar bills in the legislatures. Vars and Ayres have conducted research
and published numerous articles supporting this proposal, including a
survey where 46 percent of 200 psychiatric patients in Alabama indicated
that they would waive their rights given the opportunity.

A system that allows individuals to voluntarily waive their rights to
purchase firearms, rifles and shotguns can have an impact on all these
sobering statistics. Essentially, it is allowing people to create a
self-imposed pause, similar to a waiting period. This bill allows some-
one who recognizes their own vulnerability to elect willingly, voluntar-
ily and confidentially to waive their right, and then revoke the volun-
tary waiver after twenty-one days. This has the potential to save lives.
We are in a pandemic that has seen millions of Americans suffering in a
myriad of ways. New York State should enact this bill to allow people
the opportunity to voluntarily take steps to protect themselves from
themselves. Creating an option for people to ban themselves from
purchasing firearms, rifles and shotguns has the potential to save them
from hurting themselves and from hurting others.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2020 - A.11121 (Paulin) referred to governmental operations

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.

2021-S5814A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  5814--A
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 19, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. KAVANAGH -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to  the  Committee  on  Finance  --  committee
   discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
   to said committee
 
 AN  ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing a volun-
   tary waiver of the right to purchase firearms, rifles, or shotguns
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 221-e
 to read as follows:
   § 221-E. VOLUNTARY WAIVER OF RIGHT TO PURCHASE  FIREARMS,  RIFLES,  OR
 SHOTGUNS.   1. AN INDIVIDUAL MAY FILE A VOLUNTARY WAIVER OF THE RIGHT TO
 PURCHASE A FIREARM, RIFLE OR SHOTGUN WITH THE DIVISION OF STATE  POLICE,
 IN  A FORM THAT SHALL BE DETERMINED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT. SUCH INDIVID-
 UAL SHALL THEN BE PROHIBITED FROM PURCHASING FIREARMS, RIFLES AND  SHOT-
 GUNS. THE DIVISION OF STATE POLICE SHALL VERIFY THE INDIVIDUAL'S IDENTI-
 TY  PRIOR  TO  ACCEPTING SUCH FORM. THE INDIVIDUAL FILING THE WAIVER MAY
 PROVIDE AN ALTERNATE INDIVIDUAL TO BE CONTACTED IF THE WAIVER IS REVOKED
 AS SET FORTH IN SUBDIVISION THREE OF THIS SECTION.
   2. THE DIVISION OF STATE POLICE SHALL MAINTAIN  STATEWIDE  RECORDS  OF
 INDIVIDUALS WHO WAIVE THE RIGHT TO PURCHASE FIREARMS, RIFLES OR SHOTGUNS
 AS  SET FORTH IN SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION AND REVOCATIONS OF SUCH
 WAIVERS AS SET FORTH IN SUBDIVISION THREE OF THIS SECTION. SUCH  RECORDS
 SHALL  BE  MAINTAINED  FOR  INTERNAL  USE  IN A MANNER DETERMINED BY THE
 SUPERINTENDENT. THE DIVISION OF STATE POLICE  SHALL  ENTER  EACH  WAIVER
 INTO THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM AND ANY OTHER
 FEDERAL OR STATE COMPUTER-BASED SYSTEMS USED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
 OR  OTHERS  TO  IDENTIFY  PROHIBITED  PURCHASERS OF FIREARMS, RIFLES AND
 SHOTGUNS WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF RECEIPT OF THE WAIVER.
   3. NO SOONER THAN TWENTY-ONE DAYS AFTER  FILING  A  WAIVER  UNDER  THE
 PROVISIONS  OF SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION, AN INDIVIDUAL MAY FILE A
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD02158-02-1

 S. 5814--A                          2
 
 REVOCATION OF THE WAIVER WITH THE DIVISION OF STATE  POLICE  IN  A  FORM
 THAT  SHALL  BE  DETERMINED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT. THE DIVISION OF STATE
 POLICE SHALL VERIFY THE INDIVIDUAL'S IDENTITY PRIOR  TO  ACCEPTING  SUCH
 REVOCATION.  THE  DIVISION OF STATE POLICE SHALL ENTER THE REVOCATION OF
 THE WAIVER INTO THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL  BACKGROUND  CHECK  SYSTEM
 AND  ANY  OTHER  FEDERAL  OR  STATE  COMPUTER-BASED  SYSTEMS USED BY LAW
 ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES OR OTHERS  TO  IDENTIFY  PROHIBITED  PURCHASERS  OF
 FIREARMS, RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF RECEIPT OF THE
 REVOCATION  FORM, TO INDICATE THAT THE INDIVIDUAL IS NO LONGER A PROHIB-
 ITED PURCHASER OF FIREARMS, RIFLES OR  SHOTGUNS  DUE  TO  THE  VOLUNTARY
 WAIVER.
   4.  A  WAIVER PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION MAY NOT BE REQUIRED OF AN INDI-
 VIDUAL AS A CONDITION FOR RECEIVING EMPLOYMENT, BENEFITS OR SERVICES.
   5. NO RECORDS REQUIRED BY THIS SECTION SHALL BE SUBJECT TO  DISCLOSURE
 AND  SHALL  BE CONFIDENTIAL WITH RESPECT TO ALL MATTERS INVOLVING HEALTH
 CARE, EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION, HOUSING,  INSURANCE,  GOVERNMENT  BENEFITS,
 AND CONTRACTING.
   §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law.

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