New York has a tougher set of gun rules on the books as of Wednesday, after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation expanding firearm storage requirements and cutting off ammunition sales to people who are legally barred from owning a gun. The new law also increases penalties for cases where minors or unlicensed people get hold of an unsecured firearm.
What the New Law Actually Changes
According to News 12 Bronx, the legislation expands existing gun storage safety rules and requires firearms to be locked in a storage container when they are not in use. The same report states that the law creates stronger penalties for situations in which minors or unlicensed individuals manage to access an unsecured gun — a scenario safe-storage advocates have long pointed to as a preventable risk.
The legislation also prevents people who are prohibited from owning guns from purchasing ammunition, per the station's report. A press release on the measure clarifies that people barred by law from owning a rifle or shotgun, or who are subject to a temporary or extreme risk protection order, may not legally purchase ammunition under the new rules.
Background Checks Extended to Ammo Purchases
Per Hochul's office, ammunition-purchase background checks are designed to align with the requirements already in place for firearm purchases in New York. That alignment effectively closes a gap that had let someone barred from buying a gun still walk out of a store with bullets.
Hochul described the package as one of the nation's most advanced gun safety agendas, and said the legislation will help keep guns out of the wrong hands and improve safety across New York communities, according to the same account.
Existing Storage Rules Already on the Books
New York's safe-storage statutes already spell out what counts as proper storage. Under Penal Law § 265.46, when an owner knows or has reason to know that someone younger than 16 is likely to access a firearm, rifle or shotgun, the weapon must be securely locked in an appropriate safe-storage depository or rendered incapable of being fired with a gun-locking device. A companion provision, Penal Law § 265.45, makes clear that a glove compartment or glove box does not qualify as an appropriate safe-storage depository — a detail that underscores how specific the state's storage standards have become.
The ammunition provisions trace back to Senate Bill S.7236, which concerns restrictions on the receipt of ammunition by people already prohibited from owning firearms.
State Points to Decline in Shooting Incidents
The governor's office has pointed to data suggesting the state's broader gun-safety push is having an effect. According to a release from Gov. Kathy Hochul's office, the state's Division of Criminal Justice Services reported an 18 percent decrease in shooting incidents with injury in communities participating in New York's Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative during the first five months of 2026, compared with the same stretch in 2025. That figure accompanied the state's rollout of a public-service campaign promoting secure firearm storage, which the governor's office has also announced in Spanish-language materials.
The new legislation builds on that storage-education push by writing locked-storage requirements more firmly into state law, rather than relying solely on public-awareness messaging. Taken together, the measures signed Wednesday mark one of the more sweeping updates to New York's gun laws this year, combining storage mandates, new penalties and an ammunition background-check system modeled on the one already used for gun purchases.
