Session ended late last week, and New York gun owners scored a major victory in our fight for gun rights.
Late Friday night things wrapped up here in Albany.
And while Kathy Hochul did sneak one gun control bill through the process, we stopped every other major gun control bill that she wanted on her desk!
They are dead.
That means that you and I stopped:
*** The 10-day waiting period bill; this passed the Senate two years in a row but died in the Assembly. This year, they scaled it back to a 3-day waiting period and we still stopped it.
*** Mandated civil liability insurance requirements to buy a handgun, rifle, or shotgun. This was a top priority of Kathy Hochul and several of her legislative allies.
*** The ban on big-bore hunting rifles. This year the bill would ban .50 caliber rifles, but it was drafted to be immediately expanded to include many other hunting rifles.
And we stopped Hochul’s long-term goal, mandated mental health exams as a condition to buy a gun in New York State!
Every one of those bills is dead.
Now, let’s be clear. This was not a perfect legislative session.
Kathy Hochul abused the state budget process to ram her Glock Ban into a 2,515-page budget bill that most legislators never read before voting on it.
She knew the Glock Ban would face fierce opposition if it moved through the normal legislative process, so she buried it inside the budget and forced it through that way.
We’re furious about that. But given what we were facing when session began, this outcome was absolutely fantastic.
But it’s important to note, this did not happen by accident.
It happened because members and supporters of the NYS Firearms Association hammered Albany all session long, generating 471,917 emails into legislative offices in the Assembly and Senate.
471,917!
That terrified politicians in swing seats.
These politicians don’t care about tough talk on social media, and they don’t care who attends rallies in Albany.
They care when voters in their districts start flooding their offices. Because they know if we can mobilize that level of pressure during session, we can do it again at election time.
That’s why these bills died.
And make no mistake, these were not symbolic bills. They were designed to fundamentally reshape gun ownership in New York. Kathy Hochul wanted every one of those bills.
But she didn’t get them. Despite Democrat supermajorities. Despite her political machine. Despite one of the most hostile media environments in America.
That’s because of one reason: the unrelenting members of the NYS Firearms Association who blasted almost a HALF-MILLION emails into Albany and made the politicians fear gun owners!
That’s why the NYS Firearms Association exists. To organize gun owners into a political force capable of holding the line against Kathy Hochul’s war on the Second Amendment.
Not to manage decline.
Not to negotiate away our freedoms.
Not to make excuses.
We’re here to fight.
And this legislative session proved once again that organized gun owners can still bloody Albany’s nose.
To every NYSFA member who sent emails, signed petitions, shared alerts, recruited friends, and stood with us throughout this battle, thank you!
You helped stop Hochul’s priority gun control bills.
And to the thousands of gun owners who joined our email list during this fight, I hope you’ve seen what organized grassroots pressure can accomplish.
You saw the alerts. You saw the emergency emails. You saw legislators get flooded with opposition. And now you’ve seen the result.
That is what NYSFA members are building together.
If you believe New York gun owners deserve an organization that fights aggressively instead of compromising with anti-gun politicians, I hope you’ll officially join the New York State Firearms Association today.
>>> JOIN THE NYS FIREARMS ASSOCIATION! <<<
Because Kathy Hochul isn’t going away.
And after the beating Albany Democrats took on these four bills, they’ll spend the next six months preparing their next attack on our freedoms.
Which means we cannot slow down.
We have to keep growing.
And we have to be even stronger when Albany comes back into session. That begins soon. For today, enjoy what we just accomplished!
For New York State,
Aaron Dorr
Executive Director
NYS Firearms Association
P.S. Kathy Hochul got her Glock Ban by hiding it inside a 2,515-page budget bill. We’re furious about that. But while she was doing that, NYSFA members killed every other gun control bill she wanted on her desk this year.
The 10-Day Waiting Period bill died.
The civil liability insurance mandate died.
The big-bore hunting rifle ban died.
Kathy Hochul’s mandatory mental health exam bill died.
Those victories happened because NYSFA members generated 471,917 emails into Albany and made politicians afraid of the political consequences.
If you’re not yet a member of the NYS Firearms Association, now is the perfect time to join. You’ve seen what organized gun owners can accomplish when we fight back together.