New York has really been knocking it out of the park with more ridiculous and random gun regulation, largely focused on ownership and carry this year. Seemingly spurred on by SCOTUS’ Bruen verdict, they have been windmilling for months, while (likely unsuccessfully) attempting to skirt it.
The Bruen decision, you’ll recall, stated that New York’s “May-issue” concealed carry permitting scheme was unconstitutional, by virture of the 2A giving Americans a right to carry arms in public for self defense, and the fact that there is no American tradition of gun regulation that justifies New York’s proper cause requirement. NY State has spent the time since the decision doing everything they can to get around, or simply ignore that verdict with onerous, malicious, or random gun regulations attempting to intimidate people away from concealed carry and gun ownership however they think they can, in the name of “safety”. So what are they doing this time?
The bill in question directs the NY State Police to “develop regulations pertaining to the bulk purchase of firearms or ammunition and flagging those bulk purchases for further review for the purpose of investigating potential criminal activity.” How, or what standard will be used to determine what “bulk” ammunition purchases are is entirely unknown. Equally ethereal is the answer to the seemingly unasked question of “Where will the manpower and budget to monitor these purchases and enforce these regulations come from?”.
But it’s fairly apparent that the issue at hand isn’t bulk firearms purchases, concealed carry, or anything else gun related. It’s more likely an attempt at showing the voter base that keeps these people in office that they are “doing something” in the face of what they perceive as a hostile, politicized supreme court. This is street busking for votes, at best. If this was about control through gun regulation, they’d have an actual plan for how to implement and enforce this bill, which it would not surprise us to learn the State Police were not consulted or informed of prior to its writing.
