L.L. 2006/031

Enactment date: 7/27/2006

Int. No. 364

By the Speaker (Council Member Quinn) and Council Members Vallone Jr., Brewer, Clarke, Comrie, Felder, Fidler, Gonzalez, James, Koppell, Liu, Mark-Viverito, Martinez, Monserrate, Nelson, Palma, Recchia Jr., Sears, Stewart, Vann, Weprin, Mealy, Garodnick, McMahon, Gioia, Gennaro, Dilan, Foster, Jackson, Yassky, Katz, Gentile, Oddo and The Public Advocate (Ms. Gotbaum) (by request of the Mayor)

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to multiple purchases of firearms and the prevention of firearms trafficking.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Declaration of legislative findings and intent. In local law number 9 for the year 2005, the Council addressed the problem of the diversion of rifles and shotguns to the illegal gun marketplace. The Council finds that the provisions of this local law must be strengthened and extended to address the problem of the proliferation of illegal handguns.

The illegal possession of handguns - by felons, juveniles, drug addicts, people subject to restraining orders for domestic violence, and others not legally entitled to possess handguns - is a deadly and ongoing threat to the people of New York City. The city, state, and federal government maintain extensive statutes and licensing schemes to prevent such people from acquiring handguns. Nonetheless, networks of illegal gun traffickers supply handguns to at a large profit to people who should not have them.

Approximately twenty percent of the city's robberies and the majority of its murders involve guns. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) traced 8,437 guns used in crime in New York City from August 1997 to July 1998. Of those guns, 278 were used in homicides and 618 were used by juveniles.

Although traffickers can obtain guns in many ways, they are often able to simply buy them from federally licensed retailers. Rather than buy guns in their own names, illegal traffickers usually rely on "straw purchases," i.e., having someone else purchase guns on their behalf. One ATF study concluded that more than half of the guns identified in urban trafficking investigations that involved juveniles had been trafficked by straw purchasers or straw purchasing rings.

ATF has found that purchases of multiple handguns at the same time are a strong indicator of straw purchases and, therefore, of illegal handgun trafficking. A loophole in existing federal and New York state law allows a purchaser, once approved, to buy as many guns at a time as he or she likes. Having a straw purchaser buy more than one handgun at a time allows traffickers to work quickly, efficiently, and without involving more criminal confederates than necessary.

Due to the importance in illegal gun sales of multiple purchases by straw purchasers, limiting or prohibiting multiple sales by licensed dealers inhibits gun crime and illegal gun trafficking. After South Carolina and Virginia enacted one-handgun-per-month laws, their significance as suppliers of crime guns to Northeastern states diminished sharply. In the year after Maryland passed a similar law, it experienced a fourteen percent drop in homicides. Moreover, the number of crime guns seized in the adjacent District of Columbia that had first been bought at retail in Maryland dropped from twenty to zero.

In order to fight illegal handgun trafficking and therefore the supply of handguns to people who, under existing law, should not have handguns, the city must limit multiple and closely consecutive purchases of handguns. Doing so will not only save lives, but will also reinforce the city's position as a national leader against gun crime.

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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]

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§ 6. Severability. If any provision of this local law is for any reason found to be invalid, in whole or in part, by any court of competent jurisdiction, such finding shall not affect the validity of all remaining provisions of this local law, which shall continue in full force and effect.

§ 7. This local law shall take effect 120 days following its enactment into law, provided that, prior to such effective date, the police commissioner shall promulgate such rules and take such other actions as are necessary to its timely implementation.