NY lawmaker wants to allow Amish, Mennonites to buy guns without photo IDs

By Andrew Shepperson

A New York State Senator has introduced legislation to make it easier for Amish and Mennonite community members to purchase firearms.
The measure, Senate Bill 6859, was introduced last week by Sen. Catharine Young and would allow members of those specific religious communities to buy guns without having to submit a photograph with their handgun application, the Gothamist reported.
Young’s district includes the upstate New York counties of Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany, in which large numbers of Amish and Mennonite community members live. Those sects strictly forbid members from taking having photographs taken of themselves, creating a sticky situation when trying to buy guns.
“Currently, members of the Amish and Mennonite communities are unable to possess pistols or revolvers in New York without violating the tenets of their religion by submitting to the taking of a photograph which would also be used for identification purposes,” Young wrote in the bill’s sponsor memo.
In lieu of a submitted photograph, practitioners of the specific religious sects would have to submit a written affidavit that verifies their religion prevents them from being photographed.
The memo also mentions that the two religious sects have received similar exemptions in the past, including labor requirements, educational requirements, and building codes for schools.
In 2015, an Amish

Source: Guns.com