The Buffalo News reports that New York’s mandatory firearms storage law is rarely enforced:
“A September incident in which a 12-year-old boy allegedly brought a loaded pistol, a loaded magazine and loose rounds to Frontier Middle School led to charges against the woman who owned the gun. Two weeks after the school incident, a Hamburg woman was charged with failing to safely store the gun. She is among the first in the state to be charged as the result of legislation passed in 2019 aimed at keeping guns away from children … The law requires owners of handguns, rifles and shotguns to safely store such weapons, either by keeping the weapons locked up or using a locking device on the firearm if there is a child under 16 who lives in the house or if there is a reasonable chance a child may visit the house. Before the law was passed in 2019, New York only required safe storage of weapons if there was a convicted felon or other person prohibited from owning a weapon in the residence. That was included in the New York SAFE ACT, which passed in 2013 … The law is rarely used by prosecutors, according to records provided by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office. It was applied four times under the older provisions regarding people prohibited from owning guns and for the first time since it was amended in the Hamburg case. …”
The law should be abolished as it directly conflicts with Heller v. District of Columbia. Hopefully with better Justices on SCOTUS someone will bring a case challenging it.
