Hundreds of alleged gun dealers have been arrested and thousands of illegal firearms have been seized — including nearly 200 AR-15-style rifles — since a new round of federal gun control measures passed last summer, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said Monday.
Democrats — who first introduced the law 14 years ago after Brooklyn high school student Nyasia Pryear-Yard was killed by a stray bullet from an illegal gun — said the bill gives law enforcement the tools it needs to stop gun runners. behind the bar.
“At that time, firearms smuggling was not a federal crime,” he said. “Law enforcement officers have to rely on a patchwork of weak and easily exploited local laws to prosecute offenders, and this … allows dealers to operate even during the day in our parks, near schools or outside our homes without fear of any serious consequences.”
But the bipartisan Safe Communities Act — signed by President Biden in June 2022 — changes that, Gillibrand said during a news conference outside NYPD headquarters, announcing a report on the law’s results so far.
Since its passage, authorities have charged more than 200 people in 20 states with gun smuggling and seized more than 1,300 firearms, including 190 AR-15s — the weapon of choice for mass shooters — and 151 ghost pistols, he said.
Senator Gillibrand said Monday that new federal gun laws have allowed authorities to prosecute hundreds of gun dealers. Matthew McDermott The new law also allows authorities to confiscate more than 1,300 firearms, he added. Dennis A. Clark
Of those illegal guns, 120 are in New York, the senator added. And there are nine defendants from the Empire State, including eight from New York City.
The law tightens background checks on the youngest gun buyers, closes loopholes for abusive partners, provides millions for mental health services and incentivizes states to pass red flag laws, among other initiatives.
At the time, Biden praised the law as something that would “save lives.”
Of the $750 million bill provided for mental health services, nearly $100 million went to New York, Gillibrand said.
The funds will pay for about 14,000 new mental health professionals in schools across the country, including about 400 in New York, he said.
The law, signed by President Biden in June 2022, tightens loopholes, increases background checks and provides money for mental health, among other things. Reuters
“You talk to any teacher or any parent … COVID is not going well for our kids,” the senator said. “Young people’s mental health is not strong, they need support in our schools … Getting more mental health services into our elementary and middle schools, I think, will make our communities safer.”
During the press conference – which was also attended by four of the Big Apple’s five district attorneys – Gillibrand pointed to a specific incident in which authorities caught smugglers who had moved firearms that were directly linked to shootings in the metro area.
Gillibrand first proposed the legislation in 2009 after meeting with the family of Nyasia Pryear-Yard, a Brooklyn high school student shot and killed in 2009. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
In one incident, police nailed four members of a smuggling ring that brought firearms into New York from Virginia along the so-called “Iron Pipeline,” which brought firearms northeast from less restrictive southern states.
One of the guns — which the suspect accidentally sold to an undercover NYPD officer in June 2022 — was linked to a shooting a year earlier in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Gillibrand said.
Another was used in the 2021 shooting in Canarsie, he added.
The co-conspirators sold the undercover cops at least 50 guns before they were arrested in January, making them some of the first defendants charged under the new law, the senator said.
He also cited another Big Apple seizure in which authorities seized 51 guns from a group of alleged smugglers out of Ohio, and a New Jersey operation that took 28 phantom guns from members of the Latin Kings street gang.
Before the law was passed, authorities had no federal statute under which they could prosecute gun dealers, the senator said. X / @gillibrandny
“There are far too many illegal firearms on our streets, and every single one of them has the potential to harm the members of our beautiful city,” Jason Savino, the NYPD’s assistant chief in charge of the gun violence suppression division, said at a news conference. .
“The good news is that we are making progress,” he added. “While one shooting is one too many, over the course of the year in New York City, over 300 fewer people were shot than the previous year. Until all gun violence is eliminated, we will remain relentless.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg also praised law enforcement’s accomplishments.
“We’re really, really encouraged by where the numbers are going, but we know we have more work to do,” Bragg told reporters. “In Manhattan, our gun prosecutions are up 20%. We are focusing, along with the NYPD, on those who are driving the violence.”
Of the suspects arrested for carrying guns, nine are from New York. Eight of them are from the Big Apple. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Gillibrand introduced the bill in 2009 after she met with the family of Pryear-Yard, an honors student who was hit by a stray bullet while out with friends at a dance party.
“Nyasia is almost graduating, she is on her way to U-Penn. She is a bright light whose life was cut short by gun violence in her community,” Gillibrand said.
“As a New Yorker, I always knew if we could get illegal guns off the streets, lives would be saved,” the senator said, adding that he still wants to strengthen the red flag law, banning assault and high-capacity rifles. magazine.
“We want to continue to focus on this one issue to do more,” he continued. “I’m working on a bipartisan basis right now to get more resources for law enforcement to do these investigations and prosecutions.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
