ALBANY, N.Y. - New York is set to ban the purchase or possession of a semi-automatic rifle for people under 21 years old, a major change to state firearm laws pushed through less than three weeks after an 18-year-old used one of the guns to kill 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo.The Legislature spent Thursday evening debating the bill raising the age limit, which passed the Senate 43-20 along party lines.
The legislation, which also launches a licensing requirement, is the centerpiece of a package of gun control bills announced earlier this week by Democratic legislative leaders and Gov.
Kathy Hochul.New York already requires people to be 21 to possess a handgun. Younger people would still be allowed to have other types of rifles and shotguns, but the change in the law would restrict ownership of the type of fast-firing rifles used by the 18-year-old gunmen in the mass shootings in Buffalo and at a Texas elementary school.Besides raising the legal purchase age to 21, the bill would also require anyone buying a semiautomatic rifle to get a license — something now only required for handguns.President Joe Biden spoke from the White House on Thursday, June 2, 2022, about recent mass shootings in Texas, New York, and Oklahoma and the urgent need for Congress to pass new legislation on guns.Republicans chastised Democrats for pushing a more sweeping measure than Hochul originally pitched.Sen.