Albany – Amy Paulin (D-88) is pleased to announce that A.5257, legislation she authored, was passed by the New York State Assembly on Tuesday.

The legislation would require anyone who has been convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence crime to surrender his/her firearms, including rifles, shotguns, black powder rifles, black powder shotguns, muzzle-loading firearms, antique firearms and pistols.

Currently, when a person is convicted of a felony or serious offense or an order of protection is issued for victims of family offenses in certain circumstances, the court must revoke that person’s firearms license and order the immediate surrender of any firearms the person owns or possesses. The law does not, however, provide for the surrender of these dangerous weapons upon conviction of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence even though upon such a conviction, the person would be prohibited under federal law from purchasing or possessing a firearm.

“Intimate partner homicide is the most frequent type of domestic homicide,” said Paulin, who added that firearms, including handguns, rifles and shotguns, are the weapons used in one-third of intimate-partner homicides. “We know that when a gun is in the house, an abused woman is six times more likely than other abused women to be killed.”

“Without this bill, people who are prohibited from buying or possessing a firearm because they’ve been convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence crime get to keep any firearms they already had before they were convicted, which makes no sense. We need to close this dangerous loophole to help ensure the safety of domestic violence victims who we know are at risk of harm at the hands of their abusers.”

Paulin’s bill was one of 12 bills passed by the Assembly on Tuesday that will strengthen support for victims of domestic violence.