I may be wrong, but I don't think such guns are illegal in Texas, in fact I may have such a rifle myself. Poor NY surrounded by all these states with lax dangerous gun laws, gunshops selling guns that are illegal in NY, and dreaded gunshows illegally selling illegal in NY guns. Why as far away as Arizona they are doing things that in NY are illegal.
Did the politicians in NY ever stop to think that maybe they are out of step with most of the rest of the country?