Background checks for ammunition purchases and a $2.50 fee for ammo sales are now the law of the land in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) New York.
My Twin Tiers reported that background checks took effect Wednesday. Simultaneously, New York law changed to place background checks under the auspices of the New York State Police.
The $2.50 fee was added for ammunition to cover police costs in conducting a point-of-sale background check and a $9.00 fee was added on guns to cover the background check there.
A salesman fills out the paperwork for a customer as he buys a National Armory AR-15 (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images).
The Olean Times Herald noted that the ammunition checks and the background check fee system are part of legislation that Hochul “signed into law in July 2022” as New York Democrats reacted to the June 23, 2022, Bruen decision.
Mike Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety ranks New York second only to California in gun control strength.
New York has an “assault weapons” ban, a “high capacity” magazine ban, universal background checks, a red flag law, permit requirements for gun purchases, permit requirements for concealed carry, firearm storage laws, “ghost gun” regulations, a hate crime prohibited purchasers’ list, and now, background checks on ammunition sales, a $2.50 fee on ammo sales, and a $9.00 fee on gun sales.
Despite these myriad gun controls, Everytown noted that nearly 950 people die a firearm-related death in New York each year.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
