Cuomo
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ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo’s seven-bullet limit on gun magazines is under fire from state Senate Republicans.
Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos of Long Island said yesterday that he believes 10-bullet magazines should remain legal for New Yorkers who keep guns in their homes for protection.
“I believe the governor is going to be pretty firm about seven bullets — unless it’s in the home,” Skelos said.
Insiders say Cuomo — under heavy fire in upstate and rural New York for the law he rammed through the Legislature in mid-January — is likely to go along.
Last week, a rally at the Capitol by opponents of the state’s new gun laws drew more than 5,000 protesters.
But Cuomo himself said that while he’s open to “technical changes” to the toughest gun- control law enacted since last December’s elementary-school massacre in Newtown, Conn., he doesn’t consider raising the seven-bullet limit back to 10 a “technical change.”
Skelos’ Senate majority coalition partner also sounded unwilling to consider substantive changes to the statute, which also broadens New York’s ban on assault weapons, increases penalties for illegal gun use and requires virtually all gun owners to register their firearms with the state.
“I stand by the law as the toughest law in the nation,” said Independent Democratic Conference leader Jeff Klein of The Bronx. “I think the model we set in New York, we should be very proud of.”
Skelos also took aim at the so-called Hollywood amendment, which would allow the use of otherwise-banned assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in filming.
“I am not looking to protect Hollywood,” Skelos said. “I think the governor and [Assembly] Speaker [Sheldon Silver] are, but I’m not.”
Gun-rights activists have criticized the idea as helping a business they say glorifies violence.
The changes in the gun law would be part of a “cleanup” bill to fix errors in the legislation.
Among the errors is language that would make cops’ guns illegal because they exceed the maximum for magazines and a requirement that cops have written permission to enter school property.