In 2021, New York enacted the Scott J. Beigel Unfinished Receiver Act¹ and the Jose Webster Untraceable Firearms Act,² which together prohibit ghost guns and the unserialized parts used to make them.³ Most of these laws’ provisions took effect in April 2022.

These laws included provisions to generally:

• Make it unlawful to sell, exchange, give, or dispose of a completed or unfinished frame or receiver that is not serialized.⁴ (The term “unfinished frame or receiver” is defined for these purposes to include any unserialized material “that has been shaped or formed in any way for the purpose of becoming the frame or receiver of a firearm, rifle or shotgun, and which may readily be made into a functional frame or receiver through milling, drilling or other means.”)⁵
• Make it unlawful (after a six month implementation period) to possess an unserialized firearm, unserialized completed frame or receiver, or unserialized unfinished frame or receiver⁶ with knowledge that it is unserialized.⁷
• Make it unlawful to sell, exchange, give, or dispose of an unserialized ghost gun to another person when knowing or having reason to know the gun is an unserialized ghost gun.⁸;
• Ensure that people who are legally disqualified from possessing a shotgun or rifle pursuant to state or federal law are also disqualified from possessing a major component of a firearm, defined to include the firearm’s barrel, slide or cylinder, frame, or receiver.⁹

New York also makes it unlawful to knowingly manufacture, cause to be manufactured, sell, exchange, give, dispose of, transport, ship, or possess with intent to sell an undetectable firearm, which includes firearms that:

• Cannot be detected by metal detectors after the removal of grips, stocks, and magazines.¹⁰
• Have a barrel, slide or cylinder, frame, or receiver that cannot be imaged by security screening devices commonly used at airports.¹¹

MEDIA REQUESTS

Our experts can speak to the full spectrum of gun violence prevention issues. Have a question? Email us at media@giffords.org.

Contact

1. N.Y. S. 13 (2021).[↩]
2. N.Y. S. 14 (2021).[↩]
3. These laws were further amended by legislation enacted in early 2022) See 2021 NY S 7705 and 7736.[↩]
4. N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.01(10), 265.63, 265.64, 265.60, 265.61.[↩]
5. N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00(32); 265.07(1).[↩]
6. New York’s definition of “unfinished frame or receiver” refers to any unserialized material “that has been shaped or formed in any way for the purpose of becoming the frame or receiver of a firearm, rifle or shotgun, and which may readily be made into a functional frame or receiver through milling, drilling or other means.” N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00(32).[↩]
7. See N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00 and 265.07 (defining “ghost gun” to mean an unserialized and unregistered firearm); 265.01(9)(prohibiting possession of unserialized firearms); 265.01(10)(prohibiting possession of unserialized completed or unfinished frames and receivers).[↩]
8. N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.60; 265.61. See also, N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00 and 265.07 (defining “ghost gun” to mean an unserialized and unregistered firearm.[↩]
9. N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00(3-a); 265.01(9).[↩]
10. N.Y. Penal Law § 265.50(A)(1); id. § 265.55(A)(1).[↩]
11. N.Y. Penal Law § 265.50(A)(2); id. § 265.55(A)(2).[↩]