Cuomo: Ban gun ownership for out-of-state offenders

Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to tighten gun restrictions by preventing people from getting a New York gun license if they have committed a serious crime in another state, the Democratic governor announced Sunday.

“This new law will keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and save lives,” Cuomo said in a statement announcing the proposal, the first to be announced of those that will be outlined in his 2020 State of the State speech.

New York law already prohibits individuals from getting a gun license if they have committed certain misdemeanors including forcible touching and other sex offenses in New York. Cuomo said that under his proposal a gun license would be denied to people who have committed similar offenses in other states.

During the seven years since the Sandy Hook massacre in neighboring Connecticut, Cuomo has pushed to make restrictions on gun ownership in New York some of the strongest in the nation.

He signed bills this past year to extend the waiting period for certain gun purchases from three days to 30 days, to ban bump stocks, devices that increase the firing pace of semi-automatic weapons, and to allow teachers and school administrators to alert a judge about students they worry could be a danger to themselves or others.