Cuomo’s 7-Bullet Limit Suspended Indefinitely in NY Gun Law Debacle

Governor Andrew Cuomo’s seven-round limit on magazines sold in New York will be suspended “indefinitely” by a measure in his $136.5 billion budget set to be passed this week, Dean Skelos, a Senate majority leader said.

The ban on magazines holding more than seven bullets was set to start April 15. Cuomo has said the law needs to be rolled back because manufacturers don’t make seven-round holders. The measure was a center piece to a gun law the 55-year-old Democratic governor pushed through the legislature in January, making New York the first state to respond with tougher gun regulations to the Newtown, Connecticut school massacre.

The budget “bill will have an indefinite postponement of the issue,” Skelos, the Long Island Republican who co-leads the Senate with a group of five breakaway Democrats, told reporters in Albany yesterday.

Josh Vlasto, a Cuomo spokesman, didn’t respond to an e-mail requesting comment.

The senate is scheduled to meet through March 27 to pass Cuomo’s budget. The Assembly will return to Albany March 28 to begin voting. The budget goes into effect April 1.

The suspension means magazines holding up to 10 rounds will continue to be sold. Other pieces of Cuomo’s gun law, including measures that close loopholes in a 2000 assault weapons ban that Cuomo said had more holes than Swiss cheese and tougher background checks for sales, won’t be touched by the changes. The governor began pressing for tighter firearm controls after 20 children and six adults were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School Dec. 14.

Cuomo has been criticized by pro-gun groups, including the National Rifle Association, for waiving a requirement that bills sit for three days before they’re passed. His gun law was passed within 24 hours of being introduced, a move Cuomo has said was necessary to prevent a sales rush on assault weapons.