Despite the Supreme Court Decision on Guns, We Can Still Think Forward |

This week the Supreme Court voted to uphold the 2nd Amendment on the state and local levels, extending the individual right to bear arms and limiting how local governments can tailor gun laws to better serve the needs of their constituents. As disappointing as Monday's decision was, at least there is still room within the 2nd Amendment for "reasonable restrictions". The small fraction of strident gun rights advocates who oppose any type of sensible legislation didn't get their way entirely. Not everyone can have any type of gun at any time. Well, that's something.

And there are still local leaders who are working within the parameters of the 2nd Amendment to make policy changes. For example, our partners at New Yorkers Against Gun Violence are working to implement The 2010 New York Microstamping Bill in New York State, and we'd like to recommend that our Beyond Bullets community consider supporting them in this effort.

The Microstamping Bill is a simple measure that would require gun manufacturers and sellers to microstamp any semi-automatic handgun that has been manufactured or sold after January 1, 2012 so these guns can easily be traced to crimes.

The New York State Senate recently voted on this legislation. It didn't pass, to the dismay of 83 police departments and 100 mayors across the state. Republican Senator Martin Golden, from Brooklyn, was absent from the vote, despite being a former police officer who is typically an advocate on police issues. Other key "no" votes included Democrats Bill Stachowski, Daniel Aubertine and Dave Valesky.

If you would like to see this bill pass, call these Senators today and let them know!

Martin Golden
(718) 238-6044
golden@senate.state.ny.us

Bill Stachowski
(716) 826-3344
senstachowski@yahoo.com

Darrel Aubertine
(315)782-3418
aubertin@senate.state.ny.us

Dave Valesky
(315) 478-8745
valesky@senate.state.ny.us

To learn more about microstamping, visit: Mayors Against Illegal Guns