New York Raises the Minimum Age to Buy Semi-automatic Weapons to 21

New York state lawmakers approved a new law on Thursday that raises the minimum age to buy semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21, as part of a package to increase gun control, following the recent massacre in Uvalde, Texas. In which 19 children were killed.

“Our country-leading gun package just passed both chambers. New York is taking swift action to strengthen safety alert laws, close loopholes, and protect communities.”Governor Kathy Hochul wrote in a brief message that she must sign the law for it to go into effect.

The new law also prohibits the sale of ammunition that passes through bulletproof vests and revises what is known as the law of “Red flag”to identify those people who may eventually cause harm to themselves or others if they are in possession of a weapon.

In this way, New York became the first state in the country to restrict the purchase of weapons after the Uvalde shooting and the recent massacres in Buffalo (New York) and Tulsa (Oklahoma).

Hours earlier, the president of the United States, Joe Biden urged the federal Congress and Senate to ban the sale of assault weapons or, failing that, to increase the minimum age to buy them from 18 to 25 years.

Biden He also called for high-capacity magazines to be banned, for background checks on potential buyers to be strengthened, for the law to be enforced to ensure the safe storage of weapons, and for “Repeal the immunity that protects weapons manufacturers.”

Yesterday, the Attorney General’s Office New York He showed a strong hand against the sector of homemade weapons, subject to very restrictive legislation in the state, and ordered almost thirty companies to stop selling parts or be exposed to fines.

Homemade weapons (known as “ghost guns” or ghost weapons) allow, from kits with parts, to assemble weapons that are difficult for the authorities to trace since they lack a serial number, and are often used by people who cannot legally access weapons.

On the other hand, legislators have approved several measures to strengthen legal protections for abortion providers, as well as for women who come from outside New York to abortion in a context in which several states are choosing to ban it and while the US Supreme Court is expected to decide whether or not to annul the right to abortion at the federal level.