ALBANY, NY — Senator John Bonacic released the following statement regarding the proposed gun law: “Calls to my offices have been overwhelmingly against more gun control. When my constituents are overwhelmingly against something, and the bill we are asked to vote on is rushed through without any public review, that is nearly always a good reason to vote ‘no.’

“New York State, for years, has had the toughest gun laws in the nation. In reading the summary of the legislation provided (my comments below are based on how the legislation has been explained, because the print of the bill has not been shown to legislators as I write this - 8 PM on January 14), it appears law-abiding citizens would become criminals, eligible to be sent to jail simply by failing to tell the government they own guns they lawfully purchased.

“Equally problematic is the provision in the legislation prohibiting more than seven rounds in a ten-round magazine – something irrelevant to a criminal. Under the legislation, magazines people now own, which are capable of holding ten rounds (bullets), continue to be legal, but a person may only load seven rounds in them. It strains credibility to believe a criminal bent on a massacre is going to load only seven bullets in a ten-round magazine. Law-abiding citizens, on the other hand, who erroneously load too many bullets in a magazine, would be criminals under the legislation.”