STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 9783 IN ASSEMBLY February 11, 2020 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ORTIZ -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to personalized pistols 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 400.25 to 2 read as follows: 3 § 400.25 Personalized pistols. 4 1. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall 5 have the following meanings: 6 (a) "Authorized user" means the lawful owner of a personalized pistol 7 or person to whom the owner has given consent to use the personalized 8 pistol. 9 (b) "Commission" means the personalized pistol authorization commis- 10 sion established pursuant to the provisions of subdivision two of this 11 section. 12 (c) "Personalized pistol" means a pistol which incorporates within its 13 design a permanent programmable feature as part of its manufacture that 14 cannot be deactivated and renders the personalized pistol reasonably 15 resistant to being fired except when activated by the lawful owner or 16 other authorized user. No make or model of a pistol shall be deemed to 17 be a "personalized pistol" unless the personalized pistol authorization 18 commission has placed such pistol on the roster of authorized personal- 19 ized pistols pursuant to the provisions of subdivision three of this 20 section. 21 2. Personalized pistol authorization commission. (a) There is estab- 22 lished a commission which shall be known as the personalized pistol 23 authorization commission. The commission shall be responsible for estab- 24 lishing performance standards for personalized pistols and maintaining a 25 roster of personalized pistols authorized for sale to the public pursu- 26 ant to this act. 27 (b) The commission shall consist of seven members as follows: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD15028-01-0A. 9783 2 1 (i) three members who shall be the attorney general or his or her 2 designee, the superintendent of state police or his or her designee and 3 the commissioner of health or his or her designee; 4 (ii) one member to be appointed by the governor who is a member of the 5 American academy of pediatrics; 6 (iii) one member to be appointed by the governor who shall be a resi- 7 dent of this state who is a gunsmith or dealer in firearms as defined in 8 section 265.00 of this chapter, or a resident of this state who is a 9 representative of a New York chapter of an organization that advocates 10 for second amendment rights; 11 (iv) one member to be appointed by the governor who shall be a repre- 12 sentative of an organization that advocates against pistol violence; and 13 (v) one member to be appointed by the governor with substantial expe- 14 rience in radio frequency identification or biometric reading technolo- 15 gy. 16 (c) All appointments to the commission shall be made within six months 17 of the effective date of this section. The chair of the commission shall 18 be selected from among its members by the governor. Members of the 19 commission shall serve a term of four years from the date of their 20 appointment and until their successors are appointed. Vacancies in the 21 membership of the commission shall be filled in the same manner as the 22 original appointments were made. 23 (d) Members of the commission shall serve without compensation, but 24 shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses incurred in the performance 25 of their duties as members of such commission, and within the limits of 26 funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the commission for its 27 purpose. 28 (e) The commission shall be entitled to call to its assistance and 29 avail itself of the services of the employees of any state, county, or 30 municipal department, board, bureau, commission, or agency as it may 31 require and as may be available to it for its purposes. 32 (f) During the first year following the establishment of the commis- 33 sion, such commission shall meet monthly; thereafter, the commission 34 shall meet once every six months or at the call of the chairman of the 35 commission or the majority of its members. 36 3. Personalized pistol performance standards. (a) The commission shall 37 maintain a roster of all personalized pistols approved by such commis- 38 sion as meeting the personalized pistol performance standards and quali- 39 fying criteria established pursuant to this section. The roster of 40 approved personalized pistols shall be published on a website maintained 41 by the division of state police and shall be updated as necessary. A 42 copy of such roster shall be made available every six months to dealers 43 in firearms licensed pursuant to section 400.00 of this article. 44 (b) Within one year of organizing, the commission shall develop 45 personalized pistol performance standards and qualifying criteria which 46 a personalized pistol shall meet in order to be placed on the personal- 47 ized pistol roster. The personalized pistol performance standards and 48 qualifying criteria shall include, but not be limited to: 49 (i) the pistol shall be reasonably resistant to being fired by anyone 50 other than such pistol's authorized user as defined in subdivision one 51 of this section; 52 (ii) the personalized technology shall be incorporated into the design 53 of the personalized pistol and shall be a permanent, irremovable part of 54 such pistol and any device or object necessary for the authorized user 55 to fire such pistol;A. 9783 3 1 (iii) the personalized pistol shall not be manufactured so as to 2 permit the personalized characteristics of such pistol to be readily 3 deactivated; and 4 (iv) the personalized pistol shall meet any other reliability stand- 5 ards generally used in the industry for other commercially available 6 pistols. 7 (c) The commission shall recommend to the attorney general any rule, 8 regulation, guideline or revision thereto, or legislation which it deems 9 necessary to establish a process by which pistol manufactures may 10 request that their pistols be added to the roster established pursuant 11 this subdivision. 12 4. Approval of personalized pistols. (a) A gunsmith or other entity 13 seeking to include a pistol on the approved personalized pistol roster 14 established pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision three of this 15 section shall apply to the commission for a determination of whether the 16 make and model of such pistol proposed by such applicant would meet the 17 personalized pistol performance standards established pursuant to para- 18 graph (b) of such subdivision. The determination of the commission shall 19 be based upon testing conducted by an independent laboratory proposed by 20 the applicant which has been accredited for the testing of firearms by 21 the national voluntary accreditation or other national certifying body 22 approved by the commission or, if the applicant does not propose an 23 independent laboratory or if one is not approved or available, by the 24 division of state police. 25 (b) The commission shall approve an independent laboratory proposed by 26 an applicant to perform the determination pursuant to paragraph (a) of 27 this subdivision if the commission finds that such laboratory is capable 28 of performing the determination and will be sufficiently objective 29 making such determination, provided that the laboratory shall not be 30 owned or operated by a gunsmith or any other organization that seeks to 31 either promote or restrict pistol ownership. The application for 32 approval of an independent laboratory to perform the determination 33 pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall be in a form 34 prescribed by the attorney general, in consultation with the commission, 35 and shall provide information regarding the capabilities and objectivity 36 of such laboratory. 37 (c) An independent laboratory or the division of state police, as the 38 case may be, shall test a pistol within a reasonable amount of time 39 following the approval of an application made pursuant to paragraph (a) 40 of this subdivision. Such test shall be conducted: 41 (i) in accordance with the testing requirements formulated by the 42 commission; and 43 (ii) at the expense of the gunsmith or other entity seeking to include 44 the pistol on the approved personalized pistol roster established pursu- 45 ant to paragraph (a) of subdivision three of this section. 46 The independent laboratory or the division of state police, as the 47 case may be, shall issue a final test report to the commission at the 48 conclusion of the test. The report shall state whether the pistol meets 49 the performance standards and qualifying criteria established by the 50 commission pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision three of this 51 section. 52 (d) The commission shall review the final test report and based on 53 findings of such report shall issue a final decision by majority vote as 54 to whether the pistol should be included on the roster. Such final deci- 55 sions shall be issued within forty-five days of receiving the final test 56 report.A. 9783 4 1 (e) Upon making a final determination pursuant to paragraph (d) of 2 this subdivision the commission shall notify the applicant in writing as 3 to whether the pistol has been approved or denied for inclusion on the 4 roster. A notification informing the applicant that a firearm has been 5 denied shall be provided along with a written description of the reasons 6 for which such pistol failed to meet the performance standards and qual- 7 ifying criteria established by the commission as documented in the final 8 test report issued pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subdivision. Any 9 alteration to the design of a make and model of pistol that has been 10 approved for addition on the roster shall require a determination that 11 such pistol continues to meet the performance standards and qualifying 12 criteria established by the commission in accordance with the require- 13 ments of this section in order to include the altered design model of 14 the pistol on the roster. 15 5. Personalized pistol availability requirements. (a) Within sixty 16 days of the first personalized pistol being included on the roster 17 established pursuant to subdivision three of this section, each dealer 18 in firearms licensed pursuant to section 400.00 of this article shall: 19 (i) make available for purchase at least one personalized pistol 20 approved by the commission and listed on the roster as eligible for 21 sale. 22 (ii) post in a conspicuous manner in one or more locations in the 23 place or places of business of such dealer in firearms: 24 (1) copies of the personalized pistol roster; and 25 (2) a sign, to be promulgated by the commission, that includes a 26 statement disclosing the features of personalized pistols that are not 27 offered by traditional pistols and advises customers that such firearms 28 may be purchased through the dealer in firearms. 29 (iii) accept and process orders to enable customers to purchase 30 through the licensed retail dealer any of the personalized pistols 31 included on the roster. 32 (b) A personalized pistol offered for sale by a dealer in firearms 33 pursuant to this subdivision shall be displayed in a conspicuous manner 34 that makes it easily visible to customers and distinguishable from other 35 traditional pistols. A dealer in firearms shall post a copy of the sign 36 required pursuant to clause two of subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of 37 this subdivision in close proximity to each personalized pistol. 38 (c) In the event that the inventory of personalized pistols of a deal- 39 er in firearms is depleted and there are no personalized pistols avail- 40 able for purchase on the premises, such dealer in firearms shall: 41 (i) place an order for at least one personalized pistol within twen- 42 ty-one days of the sale of the last personalized pistol in the inventory 43 of such dealer in firearms; 44 (ii) maintain written records of the efforts of such dealer in 45 firearms to place an order and maintain such records on the premises and 46 allow them to be open for inspection at all times; and 47 (iii) post a sign on the premises of such dealer in firearms indicat- 48 ing that personalized pistols are routinely sold on the premises and 49 will soon be available for purchase. 50 (d) A dealer in firearms shall not make any claim that a pistol has 51 been approved by the commission as meeting the performance standards or 52 qualifying criteria for a personalized pistol if such pistol is not 53 included on the roster established pursuant to subdivision three of this 54 section. 55 (e) The superintendent of state police shall designate officers to 56 inspect the personalized pistol inventory and records of all licensedA. 9783 5 1 dealers in firearms. Such inspections shall be conducted at least once 2 every two years at any time during the normal business hours of the 3 dealer in firearms. 4 6. Violations and penalties. (a) A licensed retail dealer who violates 5 any provision of subdivision five of this section shall be subject to 6 the following penalties: 7 (i) for a first offense, a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars; 8 (ii) for a second offense, a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars; 9 and 10 (iii) for a third or subsequent offense, a six month license suspen- 11 sion following notice to the licensed dealer in firearms and opportunity 12 to be heard. 13 (b) Any person who without license or privilege to do so, tampers or 14 attempts to tamper with a personalized pistol by intentionally interfer- 15 ing with the user-authorized functionality of the personalized technolo- 16 gy shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor. 17 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 18 have become a law.