Federal Gun Law Being Challenged

Legislation reintroduced recently by two pro-gun U.S. House of Representatives members would eliminate unconstitutional handgun rosters that prevent law-abiding citizens in states like California and New York from freely purchasing modern handgun models.

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-New York, introduced the Modern Firearm Safety Act on July 24. The measure would prohibit all states from requiring gun manufacturers to adopt costly and unnecessary features, including loaded chamber indicators, magazine disconnect mechanisms, and microstamping.

California and New York currently have laws that feature rosters of handguns that can be legally sold in the state. As we reported a few years back, the California roster limits buyers’ choices to a pool of guns with fewer safety features.

“For decades, the clear Constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners have been targeted for elimination, and handgun rosters are only one of the cynical schemes used to undermine the Second Amendment through the pretense of firearm safety,” Rep. Issa said in a news release announcing the measure. “These rosters impose excessive and unnecessary requirements that actually restrict access to firearms equipped with the most up-to-date safety features, and that’s why I’m proud to partner with my friend Rep. Stefanik to defend sacred rights and end these unjust restrictions.”

New York’s law is particularly irksome to Rep. Stefanik, who sees her constituents’ rights being infringed daily.