The gun violence crisis in the U-S has taken a toll on communities across the country. Here in New York, a Westchester state lawmaker’s bill would require licensed gun dealers to hold off on immediately delivering a firearm to a purchaser, instead implementing a mandatory 10-day waiting period after purchase. The thought behind Assemblymember Amy Paulin’s bill is that lives could be saved, as people with mental-health challenges sometimes impulse buy weapons for immediate use. Research shows states with waiting-period laws had 51-percent fewer firearm suicides than states without them. Rockland state senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick says there are a number of bills dealing with gun safety up for consideration…
Katherine Schowalter of the group “Moms Demand Action” says those 10 days in Paulin’s bill could prompt anyone thinking about using physical violence to reconsider…
Rockland Assemblyman Mike Lawler questions the motivation of such laws, when the majority in the state continue to back bail and criminal and justice reform laws that haven’t helped…
Homicide, mostly driven by gun violence, has been on the rise in New York since 2020 as well as across the country. New York City recorded 485 homicides in 2021. That’s the highest total since 2011, when 515 people were murdered, according to New York Police Department records.