Cuomo Announces Plans To Modify Gun Control Law To Exempt Film Industry
To Also Fix Error In Legislation Featuring Cops And High-Capacity Magazines
February 27, 2013 10:01 PM
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Just a month after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the strictest gun control law in the country, state officials plan to make some exemptions.
The law toughened restrictions on military-style rifles and high-capacity semiautomatic handguns, but those restrictions will be changed so those types of weapons can be used on the sets of television shows and movies being shot in New York.
“We spend a lot of money in the state bringing movie production here, post production here. So obviously we would want to facilitate that,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo said the prop firearms used in films would probably not be classified as an assault weapon.
“But people want certainty and there’s no reason not to make a change like that,” the governor added. “Apparently, they have blanks or they have phony magazines or something.”
Cuomo and lawmakers announced on Wednesday that they’ll also fix an error that made its way into the law.
The measure passed so quickly that as it reads now, police officers carrying high-capacity magazines could be in violation of the law, Diamond reported.
The need for a “clean-up” bill means the fight over the law may not be over after all.
An estimated 10,000 opponents of the new restrictions will descend on Albany Thursday as legislators consider additional amendments.
The New York State legislature quickly passed the gun control measure in the wake of the Dec. 14 Newtown, Conn. school massacre. Gunman Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster .223 semiautomatic in his rampage that left 20 first graders and six educators dead.
