Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a new gun storage law on Wednesday that applies to every New York gun owner, not just those with kids in the house. The bill text shows the basic offense is a "violation," the lowest tier in state law, and the misdemeanor charge only applies when a minor or a prohibited person actually gets hold of an unsecured gun.
What did Hochul actually sign?
Hochul signed two bills on October 21, according to her office's release. One is "Francesco's Law," A.1962-B and S.9629, named for a 17-year-old who died by suicide in 2021 after getting a shotgun that was not locked up. The other is S.7236, an ammunition background check change.
What changes for a gun owner with no children at home?
Under the old Penal Law 265.45, the lock-up duty was triggered by living with someone under 18 or someone known to be barred from owning guns. The new text strikes that trigger. Any owner or custodian must lock a rifle, shotgun or firearm in an "appropriate safe storage depository," or fit it with a gun locking device, whenever it is out of "immediate possession or control."
The bill does not define that phrase. It does define the container: one that cannot be opened without a key, keypad or combination, and that is "fire, impact, and tamper resistant." In a vehicle, the gun must be unloaded, locked in such a container and out of sight, and a glove box does not count. Police, qualified law enforcement officers and military personnel on duty are exempt from the vehicle rule.
Two SentrySafe gun safes, one with a keypad lock. Photo: IssueLips via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. File photo. The statute does not name brands, and the picture is not a statement about which products qualify.
Is the penalty a misdemeanor or a violation?
Both, depending on what happens. Read the last line of the rewritten section 265.45 and you find that failing to store a gun safely "is a violation," replacing the old "class A misdemeanor." New York law defines a violation as an offense carrying no more than fifteen days in jail, and says a "crime" means a misdemeanor or a felony. So a gun left unlocked in a house with no child present is now a non-criminal offense.
The new section 265.51 is the serious one. It makes it a class A misdemeanor when an owner leaves a gun unsecured where he "knows or has reason to know" a minor or prohibited person is likely to reach it, and that person does. Break-ins and acts of self-defense are exempt, and so is a minor's lawful use for hunting with a license or permit.
Official record
New York State Assembly Bill A.1962-B, "Francesco's law," 2025-2026 Regular Sessions, page 2 showing the rewritten section 265.45.
"Failure to safely store rifles, shotguns, and firearms [in the first degree] is a [class A misdemeanor] violation." — A.1962-B, as shown in the bill's own redline
Read or download the full 3-page bill (PDF) · view it on the New York Senate site. The text matches the Senate version, S.9629.
Where does the Second Amendment come in?
In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court struck down a D.C. rule that kept home firearms "inoperable at all times," saying it "makes it impossible for citizens to use them for the core lawful purpose of self-defense." The question for Francesco's Law is whether a locked safe or trigger lock leaves a gun usable in time.
That is the argument NY Safe Inc., a firearms training company, made in a July analysis. It points to the undefined "immediate possession or control" language and to the law's reach into homes where no child lives. It also concedes that Heller did not rule out all storage laws. No court has weighed in, and I found no lawsuit filed as of Friday morning.
Gov. Kathy Hochul speaking at an October 2025 MTA event, not the bill signing. Photo: Marc A. Hermann / Metropolitan Transportation Authority via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. File photo.
When does it take effect, and what about the ammo bill?
Sections two through four of Francesco's Law, the storage duty and both offenses, start on the 90th day after it became law. Counting from October 21, that lands around January 19, 2027, by my count. Violators must also be handed state safe-storage materials.
The ammunition bill is one new subdivision in Penal Law 400.03. It takes effect immediately and requires a denial when the buyer is barred from owning a rifle or shotgun under state law, federal law (18 U.S.C. 922(g)) or an extreme risk protection order. New York already ran background checks on ammunition buyers, so the change adds ERPO and state-law bars to the grounds for a denial.
