The Republican-led state Senate on Monday approved a bill that would make a variety of changes to New York's controversial gun-control law.
The measure faces an uphill fight in the Democratic-led Assembly as Senate Republicans look to reform the SAFE Act, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Democrats championed when it was approved in 2013.
Among the changes would include a repeal of a requirement that every purchaser of ammunition undergo a background check. The ammunition database that was part of the SAFE Act has yet to function, and the state allocated $27.7 million in 2013 to implement the law, including the creation of the database.
The bill, introduced late Friday, is sponsored by Sen. James Seward, a central New York Republican whose district includes the major gun manufacturing plant owned by Remington Arms. The bill passed the Senate, 35-26.
"These are commonsense changes, administrative changes to the SAFE Act," Seward said on the Senate floor.