By Mariel S. Clark
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
If you're going to drink, leave your gun at home.
That was the message from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and State Senator Jeffrey Klein who introduced a bill Thursday that would make it illegal to carry a firearm while drunk.
“If you are too intoxicated to drive a car, you should not be carrying a gun,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
If passed, the bill would make carrying a gun while intoxicated a class-A misdemeanor punishable by one year in jail and a $10,000 fine. Lawbreakers could also have their gun permits revoked.
The law would use the same .08 blood alcohol level that is used to determine drunk driving.
“Guns and alcohol are a deadly mix,” Klein said in the statement. “The time is now for us to get serious about penalties for those who chose to carry a gun while intoxicated.”
The bill would not apply to people possessing guns within their own home.
Currently 20 states have banned the mix of alcohol and guns.
