ALBANY -- Democrats in the state Legislature are calling for a new package of gun-control laws in the wake of the school shootings earlier this month in Florida.
Gun-control groups and the lawmakers said Tuesday that New York's already tough laws on guns should be bolstered after the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland -- as well as other mass shootings in recent months.
The bills include "extreme risk" protective orders against people who have guns, a ban on bump stocks and an expansion of background checks
The lawmakers want to give judges the power to issue orders of protection that prohibit individuals from purchasing or possessing a gun if they are found likely to harm themselves or others.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman supported the bill Tuesday, saying getting the guns out of mentally ill people through the court system would be a positive step.
“Parkland. Las Vegas. Orlando. Sutherland Springs. Newtown. Aurora," Schneiderman said in a statement. "Over and over again, innocent Americans are gunned down in schools, movie theaters, workplaces, and houses of worship."
He added, "Even more appalling, in many cases, shooters exhibit clear indications that they are deeply troubled before they pulled the trigger, but those around them were unable to prevent them from obtaining deadly firearms."
New York in 2013 passed the SAFE Act in the wake of the school shootings in Newtown, Conn.
The gun-control law expanded the ban on assault weapons, required gun owners to register their weapons and put mentally ill people in a state database so they couldn't have guns.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ripped the inaction on the issue in Congress.
"You still have these Washington politicians who refuse to stand up and do the right thing because they're afraid of the consequences," Cuomo said Thursday.
"You now have high school students, who in my opinion are showing more leadership than the leaders in Washington."
Democratic lawmakers said states need to act if the federal government will not, saying more needs to be done as the mass shootings across the country continue.
Still, whether the package of bills would pass the Republican-led Senate is uncertain. They have opposed several of the measures proposed in the past.
After the Parkland shooting, GOP lawmakers said the state should add school-resource officers to schools.
Democratic lawmakers didn't include adding school-resources officers in their package of bills, but said they would consider ways to add more safety measures in schools.
Hudson Valley superintendents on Monday called on state and federal officials to enact stricter gun control laws and increase funding for mental-health services for children and their families.
State Senator Patrick Gallivan is a former sheriff and current chair of the Crime Victims, Crime and Correction committee in Albany.
"When I look a little more specifically at some of the proposals that came out today, I'm a little bit confused in the sense that lawmakers want to give judges power to issue orders of protection to prohibit individuals from purchasing or possessing a gun. Now, it's my belief that judges already have these powers," says Gallivan.
Senator Gallivan, a Republican, is pushing for state funding for school resources officers for schools that don't have them.
"Bump stocks, for instance, I'm not aware that they're sold anywhere in New York, and their use is already prohibited. You know, we do have background checks among other things, so I think we should focus on what we can do to keep schools safe and look at some of those more specific things, and not so much on the national issues," says Gallivan.
2 On Your Side contacted all of the state senators from Western New York Tuesday to get their thoughts on this proposed legislation. They are in session in Albany. Everyone except for Senator Gallivan was either too busy to do an interview, or did not get back to us.