New York Legislature passes bill raising age to buy, own semi-automatic rifles

New York’s legislature passed legislation Thursday to ban anyone under age 21 from buying or possessing a semi-automatic rifle, 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 to raise the age limit, which passed the Senate along party lines 43-20 and in the Assembly 102-47. The legislation, which would also launch 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. It’s now set to head to Hochul’s desk for her signature.

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.

Republicans chastised Democrats for pushing a more sweeping measure than Hochul originally pitched.

Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat, rebuffed Republicans who argued the bill will inconvenience gun owners and infringe Second Amendment rights: “It is meant to be a hassle to those folks who might want to get their hands quickly on something with which they could mass murder people”