NY Dems Push Graphic Warning Labels for Gun Stores

I can still remember watching the congressional hearings on “porn rock” that took place in the 1980s thanks to the efforts of Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center. The warning labels on LPs, cassettes, and CDs that soon appeared in record stores were actually a voluntary response by the recording industry and weren’t mandated by Congress, but in the decades since, censorious politicians across the country have pushed for similar labels on all kinds of products. In Calfiornia, for instance, warnings about more than 900 different chemicals are mandatory in businesses, and they’ve become so ubiquitous that I’d argue hardly anyone actually sees them anymore. 

Now a pair of New York Democrats are set on enacting a new law that would require gun shops across the state to post “graphic” warning signs on their premises. Gun stores in the Empire State are already required to post written warnings, and last year the New York City Council adopted an ordinance requiring the handful of FFLs operating in the five boroughs to include graphic images in their signage.  

The idea was brainchild of then-NYC council member Erik Bottcher, who has since been elected to the state Senate. On Tuesday, he and Assemblyman Keith Powers debuted their bill to impose this same requirement on every FFL in the state. 

A mockup of one possible sign shows a small white casket with pink flowers on top and a big teddy bear next to it. Another poster shows a small child reaching into a drawer containing a gun. 

“If one person thinks twice and changes their mind at the counter because of seeing this picture, this law will be worth it,” Bottcher said at the state Capitol.

“It’s extremely dangerous to bring a gun into your home, especially when it’s not stored correctly,” he added.

The express purpose of this bill is to discourage New Yorkers from exercising their Second Amendment rights, which would appear to run afoul of existing Supreme Court precedent. 

In NAACP v. Alabama, the Supreme Court ruled that the state’s demand the organization turn over its list of members violated those members’ freedom of association. That case, along with others like Murdock v. Pennsylvania and Shapiro v. Thompson, suggest that governments do not have the power to adopt laws that are meant to dissuade or prevent we the people from exercising their constitutional rights. 

Bottcher and Powers might try to argue that their proposed warning labels for gun stores aren’t really about preventing purchases, but are instead about educating potential buyers on the dangers of gun ownership, but Bottcher’s statement during Tuesday’s press conference gives the game away. 

Yes, owning a firearm increases the risk of harm from a firearm. Lving in a two story home increases the risk of injury or death from falling. Owning a car increases the risks of being hurt in a crash. Owning a butcher’s knife makes you more suspectible to being injured by a sharp, pointy object. But in 2024, there were 438 fatalities associated with accidental/negligent discharges, and about 1,400 non-fatal injuries nationwide. Given the fact that there are more than 400 million firearms and anywhere between 80 and 100 million gun owners, that is a very small number. The vast majority of gun owners are safe and responsible, and so long as they follow the basic rules of gun handling they don’t have to worry about any accidents happening. 

Bottcher and Powers aren’t trying to educate potential buyers about the fundamentals of real gun safety. They’re aiming to reduce the number of gun owners in the state through fear and deception. I don’t know if their legislation will gain traction in Albany this year, but I do know that their bad idea is a lawsuit waiting to happen if it’s ever imposed on New York gun dealers. 

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

Help us continue to report on and expose the Democrats’ gun control policies and schemes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.