Governor Cuomo is pushing a proposal to extend the NICS waiting period from 3 to 10 days when there’s a delayed response to a NICS check. The legislation A.2406 passed the state assembly on March 6th. The companion bill S.1414 now sits in the state senate codes committee where Senator Andrew Lanza is the chairman. Senator Lanza’s contact information is phone: 518-455-3215, his email: lanza@nysenate.gov. Please contact your senator and Senator Lanza and ask them to kill S.1414.
S.1414, Is a proposal to extend the waiting period to ten days when a purchaser receives a delayed response on his NICS check. A delayed response can be because the potential buyer’s name is on the terror watch list, a list that has been proven to be flawed, to say the least. The most well-known example was the inclusion of the late Senator Ted Kennedy and musician Yusuf Islam, also known as Cat Stevens on the government no-fly list. Being on the terror watch list does not mean you have been convicted of any crime, therefore denial or a delay, because you happened to end up on this list, is not only a violation of the Second Amendment but also the due process rights as guaranteed under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S Constitution. We oppose this legislation.
The biggest problem plaguing the current NICS system is the incompetence within the government bureaucracy, both at the federal level and the states. The problems that exist need to be addressed within the bureaucracy and not at the expense of law-abiding Americans.