Bill Text: NY A05256 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Relates to requiring social media and search engine reviews prior to the delivery of a rifle or shotgun; provides that prior to the delivery of any rifle or shotgun sold by a licensed dealer to any person, the purchaser shall consent to have his or her social media accounts and search engine history reviewed and investigated by the police authority of the locality where such sale is made; provides that after completion of the review, the purchaser shall provide the licensed dealer with proof of his or her approval to purchase such rifle or shotgun.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to codes [A05256 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A05256-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          5256
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    February 8, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. CARROLL -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Codes
        AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to requiring social media and
          search engine reviews prior to the delivery of a rifle or shotgun
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 400.20 to
     2  read as follows:
     3  § 400.20 Social media account and search engine history review prior  to
     4             the delivery of a rifle or shotgun.
     5    1.  Prior  to  the delivery of any rifle or shotgun sold by a licensed
     6  dealer to any person, the purchaser shall consent to  have  his  or  her
     7  social  media  accounts  and search engine history reviewed and investi-
     8  gated by the police authority of the locality where such sale  is  made.
     9  After  completion  of  the  review  pursuant  to subdivision two of this
    10  section, the purchaser shall provide the licensed dealer with  proof  of
    11  his or her approval to purchase such rifle or shotgun.
    12    2.  In  order  to ascertain whether any social media account or search
    13  engine history of a purchaser of a rifle or shotgun  presents  any  good
    14  cause  for  the  denial  of  such  purchase, the police authority of the
    15  locality where such sale is made shall, after obtaining the  purchaser's
    16  consent  pursuant  to subdivision one of this section, and obtaining any
    17  log-in name, password or other means for accessing a  personal  account,
    18  service,  or  electronic  communications device necessary to review such
    19  purchaser's social media accounts and search engine  history,  review  a
    20  purchaser's  social  media  accounts  for  the  previous three years and
    21  search engine history for the previous year  and  investigate  posts  or
    22  searches  related to (i) commonly known profane slurs or biased language
    23  used to describe the race, color,  national  origin,  ancestry,  gender,
    24  religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a
    25  person;  (ii)  threatening the health or safety of another person; (iii)
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05507-01-9
        A. 5256                             2
     1  an act of terrorism; or (iv) any other issue  deemed  necessary  by  the
     2  police  authority.  For  the  purposes  of  this  section, "social media
     3  accounts" shall only include Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and  Instagram,
     4  and  "search  engine"  shall  only  include Google, Yahoo and Bing. Upon
     5  completion of the investigation, the police authority shall  report  the
     6  results  to the purchaser without unnecessary delay and, if appropriate,
     7  provide the purchaser with proof of approval to purchase such  rifle  or
     8  shotgun.
     9    §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    10  have become a law. Effective immediately the addition, amendment  and/or
    11  repeal  of  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of
    12  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made  and  completed
    13  on or before such effective date.