Two Democratic state lawmakers from Manhattan want to force gun shop owners to display \u201cgraphic\u201d posters about the risks associated with firearms \u2014 but Second Amendment proponents quickly fought\u00a0back against\u00a0the proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Assemblyman Keith Powers and state Sen. Erik Bottcher unveiled the plan Tuesday, announcing at a press conference that the legislation would require consumer warnings with striking images about the dangers of guns \u2013 similar to fliers that sound the alarm over smoking cigarettes in other nations.<\/p>\n
A mockup of one possible sign shows a small white casket with pink flowers on top and a big teddy bear next to it. Another poster shows a small child reaching into a drawer containing a gun.<\/p>\n
One of the mockup signs at a Tuesday press conference about guns. x\/ebottcher<\/p>\n
\u201cIf one person thinks twice and changes their mind at the counter because of seeing this picture, this law will be worth it,\u201d Bottcher said at the state Capitol.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s extremely dangerous to bring a gun into your home, especially when it\u2019s not stored correctly,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The legislation builds on a law that requires text-only warning signs in gun shops that was passed by the state Legislature in 2025. <\/p>\n
A message on top of the photo in the mock-up sign tells gun buyers that access to firearms increases the risk of suicide, death during a domestic dispute or unintentional deaths to children, household members and others. <\/p>\n
It also includes a number for the national suicide prevention lifeline.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the stakes are life and death, firearm warnings shouldn\u2019t be easy to ignore,\u201d Powers said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cGraphic displays help make the risks of firearms unmistakable \u2013 and is a public health approach to solving scourge of gun violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The state Department of Health would ultimately design the posters. Gun shops that flout that law if it takes effect would be fined $5,000 for the first violation and $10,000 for every subsequent violation within a 12-month period.<\/p>\n
The legislation would be a mandate for all gun stores. x\/ebottcher<\/p>\n
The state legislation is similar to a city law passed last year requiring the 14 Big Apple stores to put up the alarming signage.<\/p>\n
But gun-rights activists dismissed the proposal as another threat to the Second Amendment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an election year. They can go back to their districts and say \u2018this is what I did. I put this warning up and it\u2019s going to save people. And it\u2019s all bull,\u201d Tom King, president of the New York Rifle and Pistol Association, told The Post. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to save anybody, it\u2019s not going to do anything other than become a dust collector on the walls,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
State Sen. Erik Bottcher supports the law. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n
Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne, a Republican, argued Albany should worry about criminals who get their hands on weapons and not law-abiding New Yorkers.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust when you think Albany can\u2019t come up with another way to trample on the Second Amendment, they prove you wrong,\u201d the former state assemblyman said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaw-abiding gun owners in New York already face some of the toughest restrictions in the country, and now lawmakers want to slap graphic warning labels on them like they\u2019re buying cigarettes. This isn\u2019t about safety \u2014 it\u2019s about stigmatizing responsible citizens exercising their constitutional rights.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two Democratic state lawmakers from Manhattan want to force gun shop owners to display \u201cgraphic\u201d posters about the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5003,4542,2710,75,84,83,57,9,24,63,58],"class_list":["post-161008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-gun-control","tag-guns","tag-law","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}