A well conceived gun law – The Buffalo News

The critics are out in force – they always are – but for those who understand that the Second Amendment allows for reasonable controls on firearms, the measures approved by the State Legislature on Tuesday are both welcome and sensible. Gun crime is endemic and it’s peculiar to this country. In New York, we haven’t had a Columbine or a Sandy Hook or a Marjory Stoneman Douglas, but there’s no reason to think we are somehow immune from that kind of tragedy. Given that Washington won’t decisively move on what is, by any reasonable definition, a crisis, it is up to the states to implement laws that can help to keep their citizens safe. This law does that. First, though, it’s important to understand what these laws don’t do. Notwithstanding the alarms of Assemblyman David DiPietro, R-East Aurora, they are not about gun confiscation from mentally sound people. The Second Amendment remains fully in force. What the law does allow is for law enforcement, school officials or family members to take court action against people believed to be an “extreme risk.” A judge has to rule. With appropriate controls, it can hardly be controversial to limit the chance that such people – the kind who commit mass murder – can come into possession of the tools needed to carry out that bloody deed. What is important is how “extreme risk” is defined and what an individual’s rights are to contest the designation. Due process is critical, and it appears to be baked into the law which, for example, requires an annual review. If critics want to argue that the law is too burdensome, they also need to account for the terrible consequences its absence invites. That “red-flag” bill is easily the most controversial aspect of the package, which Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is expected

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