Not everyone was happy that the New York state Senate and Assembly passed the toughest regulation on gun control in the country today, in wake of the Newtown massacre.
Republican Assemblyman Steve Katz spoke out with fiery passion about the legislation declaring that there will be seven more bullets in his wife's firearm. He also proclaimed that the provisions in the bill will turn gun owners into "a new class of criminals overnight." He said, "After what happened to the young mother in Loganville, Georgia who defended her two young children against an intruder, this bill would turn me into a criminal because you can bet that before I leave to do the people's work, there will be more than seven bullets in the magazine of my wife's firearm."
Katz, along a minority of other conservative NY law makers, believe that the law will induce job loss and restrict legal gun carriers to their right of self-defense. Other Republicans claim that the law, which was strongly pushed by NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is a calculated political tactic to help him get elected as president in 2016.
However critics argue that the law will deter gun violence. Besides a new limit on the size of magazines from 10 bullets to seven, the bill places a greater restrictions on assault weapons and a mandate for therapists to report mentally ill patients who threatened to use a gun illegally to the Department of Criminal Justice Services. Other provisions in the bill include banning the sale of assault weapons through the Internet, making the storage of unsafe assault weapons a misdemeanor and charging those who shoot first responders with life in prison without parole.
"This is a scourge on society," said Gov.Andrew Cuomo Monday night. "At what point do you say, 'No more innocent loss of life'?" Last week, the Governor vowed to make gun control as a centerpiece in his agenda during his in his State of the State address.
Watch the video of Assemblyman Katz below:
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