After the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Congress stalled on passing gun control laws. Any efforts to curb ownership of assault-type rifles, like the AR-15 used in Newtown or the SIG Sauer MCX reportedly used last weekend in Orlando, also failed.
But that didn’t prevent some states from taking action.
Less than a month after the Sandy Hook shooting, New York’s legislature passed the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act, which banned the sale of new or used AR-15s, as well as other rifles with military-style features, including high-capacity magazines.
“People constantly say, oh, nothing’s ever changed, we’re at a complete stalemate on guns . And if you only look at Congress, that’s right,” says Adam Winkler, a law professor at UCLA.
[ NPR ]