Cuomo unveils 2020 agenda
ALBANY, N.Y. >> Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the first two proposals of his 2020 State of the State agenda.
The first: Preventing individuals from receiving New York State gun licenses if they commit a crime in another state that is similar to a crime that would disqualify them from owning a gun in New York State.
The second: Legislation banning fentanyl analogs — a deadly synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine — by making them subject to the same criminal sale or possession penalties as other controlled substances.
Gun licences
Cuomo proposed amending the New York Penal Law to prevent individuals from obtaining a New York gun license after committing comparable misdemeanors in another state from obtaining a gun license in New York. State law prohibits
individuals from obtaining a gun license if they commit certain New York misdemeanors that are deemed “serious offenses.”
“Gun violence in this country is a crisis,” Cuomo said in a press release. “The cause is clear: spineless politicians in Washington who refuse to stand up to the NRA and pass common sense reforms. The solution is also clear: New York’s strongest-in-the-nation gun laws which have made us the safest big state in the country.
“But until the federal government acts, states with weak gun laws will continue to endanger New Yorkers at home, and I will not tolerate it. This year, I propose a new law to prevent anyone who commits a serious crime in another state from buying or possessing a gun in New York. This new law will keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and save lives.
“I’m proud that New York continues to show the country that we don’t have to live like this — that we can and will end gun violence.”
In New York, serious misdemeanors which disqualify individuals from gun ownership include certain domestic violence misdemeanors, forcible touching and other misdemeanor sex offenses, and unlicensed possession of a firearm.
In establishing a separate, statutory directive that a person cannot be licensed if they have been convicted of a similar crime in another state, it will authorize licensing entities upon application for a pistol permit to search for such crimes and deny licenses for those with qualifying out of state offenses, and additionally, will prevent renewal if an intervening conviction occurs.
New York passed the SAFE Act in 2013 and other measures to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons, domestic abusers, and other serious offenders, as well as individuals who mental health professionals have deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. The SAFE Act also ensured private gun sales are subject to a background check, banned high-capacity magazines and assault weapons, and toughened criminal penalties for illegal gun use.
Cuomo built on New York’s gun laws in 2019 with comprehensive legislation to: extend the background check waiting period; ban bump stocks; ban undetectable guns; expand firearm safe storage laws; prevent school districts from arming teachers; establish statewide regulations for gun buyback programs; and create a red flag procedure enabling concerned family members, educators, and law enforcement to seek a temporary order removing guns from individual deemed to pose a risk to themselves or others.
Banning fentanyl copycats
Cuomo said his proposal will empower the New York State Health Commissioner to ban any new fentanyl analogs that have been added to the federal schedule of controlled substances, allowing the State to deal with these substances in real time rather than play catch up.
“The opioid epidemic is a public health crisis that continues to ravage too many communities across this country,” Cuomo said. “In New York we have taken aggressive action to combat this disease, and we are seeing results with the first reduction in opioid deaths in 10 years.
“Despite this progress, drug dealers have turned to lacing opioids and other illicit drugs with fentanyl analogs — a deadly synthetic opioid that current law does not ban. This two-pronged proposal will tackle that problem by banning these dangerous fentanyl copycats and providing treatment to people suffering from opioid addiction before it’s too late.”
According to a press release, although the overall number of overdose deaths is declining in New York State, there has been a dramatic increase in overdose deaths due to fentanyl and its analogs. Fentanyl is a very powerful synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Compared to 30 milligrams of heroin, just three milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal.
Overdose deaths involving fentanyl and its analogs among New Yorkers outside of New York City increased 124 percent in 2016 and again by another 28 percent in 2017. Fentanyl analogs are not illegal in New York State. Currently, selling an unscheduled fentanyl analog is not against New York State law, unless the fentanyl analog is mixed with a banned substance.
In response to this crisis, the Governor will advance legislation to ban illicit fentanyl analogs. This action will close a prosecutorial loophole and make fentanyl analogs subject to the same criminal sale or possession penalties as other controlled substances.
The proposed legislation will also give the State Department of Health commissioner the authority to add additional analogs to the list of controlled substances, allowing the State to stay in front of these deadly substances as they appear on the market.