New York legislators took just two days to pass a new gun control law, making it the first state in the union to do so in response to the school massacre in Connecticut last month.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law Tuesday. As Reuters summarizes: “The bill expands the state’s ban on assault weapons, puts limits on ammunition capacity and has new measures to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.”

The law also mandates a minimum life-without-parole sentence for anyone convicted of killing first responders. That provision might concern civil libertarians, who generally object to legislatures tying the hands of judges.

The NRA called the law “draconian” in a statement and said it was “rushed through the [legislative] process.”

Conservative media mogul and New York resident Rupert Murdoch, meanwhile, responded by calling for federal action on guns. “This is federal imperative, not for states,” he wrote, adding, “Constitution right about guns for self defence and hunting. Founders did not mean modern weapons of war.”

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer.

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#andrew cuomo#gun control#guns#new york#nra#rupert murdoch#sandy hook massacre