• Awareness

Cuomo Calls on Feds to Renew Assault Weapon Ban

Governor says issue of gun control better tackled at the federal level.

• By Henry Powderly
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• 4:15 pm

Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Monday called on federal lawmakers to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, though the governor said he also plans to tighten the state's regulations on such deadly weapons.

The governor's remarks, coming after Friday's tragic mass shooting in Newtown, CT, that left 20 first-graders and 7 adults dead, were made in a Monday press conference.

"There's no doubt that our (state) assault weapons ban, our assault weapons law, has significant flaws and significant loopholes," he said, according to the New York Post. "You basically grandfather in all magazines pre-1994. To me, it's just a glaring omission."

Cuomo added that the federal government is best suited to regulate weapons since so often guns cross state lines. A United States ban on assault weapons was allowed to expire in 2004, when politicians in Washington chose not to renew it.

As of Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, signaled he was open to putting up gun control laws for debate in the Senate.

Story by Henry Powderly