An associate of mine offered the following commentary on bill A-9505B/S-7505B:
“… one of the Budget Bills as an Article VII policy bill redefined what a “serious offense” is. I am not sure that this was a valid Article VII bill as the amendments are necessary to effect the budget. Be that as it may, having a serious offense prior is a bar to getting a handgun possession license and hence acts to prevent one from legally having a handgun. Being convicted of a felony or a serious offense also bars one from possessing a rifle, shotgun, antique firearm, black powder rifle, black powder shotgun, or any muzzle-loading firearm. See NY Penal Law 265.01(4). The modern long gun provision has been in effect since 1974 and the muzzle loading provision in effect since 2012 – pre SAFE. Besides being retroactive aka effecting current owners, the legislation requires the NY State Police to come up with a list of serious offenses that meets the statutory definition. Prior case law was very narrow on what a “serious offense” was to avoid a slew of legal issues. In any event, Cuomo is going to create the test case on this – something that the NY Court of Appeals studiously avoided in People v. Hughes, 22 NY3d 44 (2013). Cuomo claims that the NRA will sue on this. They are so incompetent that they will not. SAF and the ACLU will likely sue on multiple grounds – one of which is void for vagueness – and win …”
Interesting to see if this comes to pass.