What?? The SAFE Act didn't work?? Who knew they'd demand MORE laws...

I left upstate NY in 1986 and have not looked back one bit.

https://www.ithacajournal.com/...new-laws/7507071002/

Gun control in NY: Lawmakers want to pass these new reforms to crack down on illegal sales

Joseph Spector
New York State Team
June 2, 2021

ALBANY - The state Senate on Wednesday passed a series of new gun-control laws, the latest in a decade-long bid to have more stringent gun laws in New York.

The package of bills comes as lawmakers plan to end the legislative session for the year next week. With the bills passed in the Senate, it will then be up to the Democrat-controlled Assembly to do the same and then send the measures to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for approval.

“We must do everything we can to eliminate the scourge of violence that has cut too many lives short and devastated too many families," Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said in a statement.

"By enacting this important legislation, we take another step closer towards further ending gun violence."

One measure that Democrats have long sought it to enact a 10-day waiting period for the purchase of all firearms, charging any violation of the law as a class A misdemeanor.

Also, lawmakers want to make it an explicit crime to purchase a firearm if a person knows there is a active warrant for their arrest.

Another bill would bolster criminal penalties for illegal gun sales or manufacturing, while also limiting the sale of toy or imitation weapons to "combat the harm incurred by realistic toy guns."

The lawmakers also want to bolster how the state reports gun violence data.

One bill would require the state Division of Criminal Justice Services to release quarterly reports on gun violence in a bid to track whether guns obtained and used in criminal acts were acquired in states with weaker gun laws than New York’s.

Democrats also want to create a state Center for Firearm Violence Research to study gun violence.

Gun-control groups praised the package, saying it comes amid a rise in shootings as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes.

In 2013, New York passed the SAFE Act, a sweeping series of gun-control laws that came in the wake of the school shootings in Newtown, Conn., that limits gun sales and possession.

“As gun violence continues to surge across the state of New York, we are grateful to have gun violence prevention champions taking the lead in the State Senate," said Rebecca Fischer, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.

Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Assembly Democrats, said of the package: "We will be discussing a number of bills and issues with our members."

But Senate Republicans knocked the bills' passage.

"New York already has the toughest gun laws in the nation," Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, Niagara County, said in a statement.

"The bills passed today are about shifting blame away from the real problem. Violence is spinning out of control in New York because socialist Democrats have been dismantling our criminal justice system and doing everything they can to prevent cops and district attorneys from doing their jobs."


Joseph Spector is the Government and Politics Editor for the USA TODAY Network's Atlantic Group, overseeing coverage in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. He can be reached at JSPECTOR@Gannett.com or followed on Twitter: @GannettAlbany

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sigmund,

I served with Bob Ortt in Afghanistan good guy.
I am so glad I left NY for good.

https://www.syracuse.com/state...c-health-crisis.html

Cuomo issues state of emergency to fight gun violence as a public health crisis

Updated 3:42 PM; Today 3:10 PM
By Teri Weaver | tweaver@syracuse.com

Gov. Andrew Cuomo today pledged to target gun violence as a public health crisis, throwing the state’s resources – including emergency disaster orders – into stemming shootings and deaths in urban areas throughout New York.

Cuomo said he would sign an emergency declaration today that would allow New York to start spending $138 million in an effort to get gun violence under control. He said it was the first statewide emergency declaration to address gun violence in the nation.

“We want to do with gun violence what we just did with Covid,” he said.

The goal, he said, is to tackle gun violence with some of the same tactics used to fight the coronavirus. That will include adding health experts, community leaders and job training to efforts by law enforcement to get illegal guns off the streets and stop violence from escalating. He said the lessons learned in fighting Covid-19 would be applied toward decreasing the amount of shootings and deaths that are on the rise this year.

“We’re in a new epidemic,” he said. “It’s a matter of life and death.”

Those efforts range from investigating the movement of illegal guns into New York to creating 21,000 jobs for youth to intervening with young people in emergency rooms as they get treated. The state’s health department will open a new unit to combat gun violence, the governor said.

“We’re losing young people,” he said. “We’re losing them needlessly.”

In declaring the emergency, Cuomo said he wanted to bring the same sense of urgency and community to addressing gun violence that many felt during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. “Here, we need the political will,” he said. “We need the same unity.”

Just like with Covid, state officials will identity hotspots where shootings occur, then deploy resources to those neighborhoods, the governor said. In some cases, that could involve mental health assistance. In others, de-escalation efforts, he said.

Cuomo detailed some of the shootings from the recent holiday weekend, including five people who were shot in Syracuse in three separate incidents.

So far this year, nine people in Syracuse have died because of shootings. Overall, there have been 14 homicides in Syracuse in 2021.

The governor also signed legislation that holds gun manufacturers in New York liable for some shootings.

Cuomo today spoke at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He did not take questions from the media.

The governor said he’ll use short- and long-term tactics in the effort against gun violence. Those include seven priorities:

Treat gun violence as a public health emergency

Cuomo said he wants local police agencies to send shooting data to the state’s Department of Health, which will use the data to deploy resources. The governor also said he’ll form a council to study current and proposed laws to see what is working and what isn’t. The goal, he said, is to “pass the laws that save lives,” he said. “Everything is on the table.”

Target hotspots with data and science

Most gun violence happens in a small part of a community. In Syracuse, he said, 2% of at-risk youth are involved in nearly half of the city’s shootings.

Positive engagement with at-risk youth

Cuomo said he’ll expand summer jobs programs throughout New York, with the state government paying for wages. The overall goal, he said, is to get young people into job training programs to create careers. “You can have an entire future ahead of you,” he said.

Break cycle of escalating violence

Cuomo cited a study by the Giffords Law Center that showed reported shootings fell by 60% at one hospital after efforts were made to intervene with the victims and quash subsequent violence.

Get illegal guns off streets

Cuomo said about three-quarters of the guns used in shootings were coming from outside New York. A new unit at the New York State Police will work with neighboring states to combat that flow, he said.

Keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.

Cuomo said he would sign legislation today to prevent people with active warrants from buying guns.

Rebuild community/police relationship

Last year, Cuomo required every police agency statewide to submit plans showing how they would improve policing and community relations. “It was a start,” he said. “We have to do more.”

John Jay College will track that progress and help share best practices, he said.


Got a story idea or news tip you’d like to share with a Syracuse-area reporter? Please contact me through email, Twitter, Facebook or at 315-470-2274.

So they want to try 10 day waiting periods. California has done that for years with absolutely zero results.

And they want to study the problem. Amazing as there's really nothing to study. Everyone knows who's doing the violence and what it would take to stop them, but it's not politically correct.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
“We must do everything we can to eliminate the scourge of violence that has cut too many lives short and devastated too many families," Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said in a statement.

Try distributing condoms in your district. That'll do for a start.

That's the best idea I've heard to date. Don't be a thug if you can't take the slug.

"In mid-July, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the Consortium for Worker Education, a nonprofit group of 46 labor unions, would receive $18.5 million from the state to create 2,400 long-term jobs for young adults in communities distressed by gun violence...

But the program has so far created about 20 jobs..."

Complete article:

https://www.syracuse.com/state...-20-jobs-so-far.html

NY gun violence program costs millions; has created 20 jobs so far

Updated: Oct. 26, 2021, 9:45 a.m. | Published: Oct. 26, 2021, 9:45 a.m.

By Joshua Solomon | Times Union, Albany

Albany, N.Y. — In mid-July, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the Consortium for Worker Education, a nonprofit group of 46 labor unions, would receive $18.5 million from the state to create 2,400 long-term jobs for young adults in communities distressed by gun violence.

“We are going to hire young people, train them, and give them jobs that set them up for long-term success in their careers,” Cuomo said on July 14 in Brooklyn, at an event where he was flanked by New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams. “These young people have entire futures ahead of them and we are going to show them there is no limit to what they can be.”

But the program has so far created about 20 jobs.

According to the state Department of Labor, CWE, which tax filings indicate has a $24 million annual budget, received $12 million to execute the program that runs through September, in addition to $6.5 million for stipend payments.

Labor Department data released to the Times Union indicates CWE has received 225 applications, plus 18 referrals. The applicants are being evaluated for skills, training needs and supportive services, the state said. An additional dozen people have started or completed short-term training.

“If you want to prevent a child from picking up a gun, give them a hammer, a spatula, a stethoscope,” Adams, the Brooklyn Borough president, said in July.

Adams was joined by Brooklyn state lawmakers, who were lambasted by some for standing alongside the reeling Cuomo at a time when he was facing an intensifying state attorney general’s investigation and looking for support. Two of Cuomo’s staunchest allies throughout his time in office were from labor unions and Black communities, where gun violence has disproportionately affected residents.

“I thank the governor for hearing our call on making these critically needed investments, and I look forward to working with (the Department of Labor) and our community stakeholders to make these investments count,” Adams said.

While Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic leadership continue to think about the best ways to address increasing gun violence, they are continuing to sort through the prior administration’s gun violence state of emergency — which suspended review of contracts by the state comptroller’s office and circumvented the normal competitive bidding process on contracts.

Hochul extended the state of emergency over the weekend through Nov. 22. There was $159 million earmarked to address the immediate threat of gun violence, with $125 million awarded to government agencies and community groups so far by the state, with about $47 million spent, according to the governor’s office.

“Combating gun violence requires an all-hands-on-deck, collaborative approach, and Gov. Hochul will continue to work with partners at all levels on initiatives to end the gun violence epidemic, including job training, community engagement and more intervention programs,” spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays said in a statement to the Times Union.

Five bills passed by both houses remain available to be delivered to and signed by Hochul, some of which accomplish very similar tasks to Cuomo’s gun violence emergency order. The administration said it plans to review the bills in the coming days.

The sweeping program was heralded by national media pundits and touted by Cuomo as a way to tackle the urgent threat of gun violence, which he had said was “normally not a state role.”

“This is not what we do as a state government,” Cuomo said. “But these are not normal times.”

The lone contract Cuomo’s administration outlined in its proposal to go directly to a nonprofit was to CWE, an organization that on its board features nearly every labor leader in New York City.

CWE pays its top-level staff a total of $1.2 million. Additional salaries and wages, according to its most recent filings with the federal government, come to $7.7 million. More than a third of its budget is spent on salaries and wages. The contract CWE received from the state is about roughly 75 percent of its typical annual operating revenue.

John McDermott, who is the organization’s director of special projects, said CWE remains “comfortable and confident” as the program, which is to run for 11 more months, develops.

“One of the challenges that we face is there usually is a significant ramp up time for an initiative this significant and this large,” McDermott said Monday. “So we’re really fortunate to have such fantastic partners all over the city, who not only have existing programs, but can hit the ground running.”

The program, he said, is to run like CWE’s “Jobs to Build On” initiative, which is funded through the New York City Council.

McDermott directed further comment to Beverly O’Donnell, the assistance executive director, who he said is running the program. Joseph McDermott, who is the executive director, was not available for comment.

A board member who spoke on condition of note being identified, said, “If Cuomo was trying to buy support, it was a bad purchase.”

By the governor’s final days in office in August, labor leaders had broken ties with him or called for his resignation.

Based on what we have read about NY, I believe that the Supreme Court Decision regarding Shall issue vs May issue will have no effect on New York. They will continue to enforce NY Law, regardless of what the Court says.

I left ny in 1978 and I’m glad I did. I wish my friends and family would leave.