Background Checks for Ammo Purchases Delayed in New York

Buffalo News is reporting that the background check for ammo law that was scheduled to go in effect January 15th 2014 will be delayed. It is said that the delay is needed because  “the agency needs more time to develop a system that will check the backgrounds of individuals before they purchase ammunition.”

ALBANY – Checking the backgrounds and recording detailed information about anyone buying ammunition, a key component of New York’s gun-control law, will not begin as expected Jan. 15, State Police officials confirmed Friday evening.

Several days after The Buffalo News first inquired about delays in the ammunition provisions, the State Police said Friday the agency needs more time to develop a system that will check the backgrounds of individuals before they purchase ammunition.

Additionally, a requirement that ammunition sellers compile and maintain an assortment of information – from the buyer’s name and occupation to the type and amount of bullets bought – also will not be kicking in on Jan. 15 as permitted under the gun-control law.

Officials did not say when the ammunition background checks might start.

“The State Police is working on technology solutions to be able to carry out this section of the SAFE Act so that the public, buyers and sellers are not inconvenienced or delayed in any way when they purchase ammunition,’’ the State Police said in a statement.

The New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, or NY SAFE Act, was quickly approved in January following the shootings at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut. Besides its new definitions on what constitutes a banned assault weapon and limits on number of rounds permitted in a weapon’s magazine, the law also targeted ammunition purchases by dealers and gun owners.

The law requires ammunition sellers to register with the State Police and to also run the purchaser’s name through a state-created database to see if they can buy ammunition. Only commercial dealers capable of running a background check, which must include a photo identification procedure in a face-to-face transaction, can sell ammunition under the new law.

Further, ammunition dealers must keep a written log – noting the date of purchase and the name, age, occupation and residency of ammunition buyers – for each sale that police can later inspect “at all reasonable hours.’’ That could have begun, under the law, on Jan. 15.

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