Citing “inadequate technology,” the administration of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to suspend the development of a system to conduct background checks on ammunition sales in the state.
Cuomo, a Democrat, struck a deal with Senate Republicans Friday, The New York Times reports. The agreement prohibits the state from spending money to develop the background check system, which some state lawmakers say could cost as much as $100 million.
The move deals a major blow to Cuomo’s landmark gun regulation law, the SAFE Act, which was passed in Jan. 2013 in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Besides the ammunition background checks, the law, considered the toughest in the nation, banned high-capacity magazines and also broadened the definition of “assault weapons” while also creating a registry for them.
But the system to conduct background checks has proved difficult to develop. The state had to create its own system rather than use the federal government’s because of federal laws prohibiting conducting background checks for ammunition sales.
The system was initially supposed to go into effect in Jan. 2014. But state police officials repeatedly pushed back the roll-out date, citing difficulties in building the system. Cuomo said in March that the system was still being developed.
“The superintendent has previously informed the legislature of the lack of adequate technology to allow the Database to operate,” reads a memo of understanding, which was signed by Cuomo’s director of state operations, Jim Malatras, and Republican Senate majority leader John Flanagan.
“The Database cannot be established and/or function in the manner originally intended at the time,” the document continues.
State lawmakers’ reactions to the new deal fell along predictable party lines.
“I think it’s very significant,” Republican state Sen. James Seward told The Syracuse Post Standard. “This is a banner day for law-abiding gun owners in New York.”
Senator Minority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins was less enthusiastic about the change.
“I guess we don’t have the toughest gun laws in the nation anymore,” his spokesman, Mike Murphy, told The New York Times.
“This two-way agreement is outrageous. I’m looking forward to the MOUs on the minimum wage, paid family leave, protecting a woman’s right to choose and the numerous other things the Senate Republicans are blocking.”
The National Rifle Association praised the move.
The decision is “a step in the right direction to restore a degree of sanity after the Safe Act’s over-the-top demonization of lawful New York gun owners,” NRA official James Baker told The Times.