Friday, October 14, 2022

MAYOR ADAMS STOPS ADDITIONAL GHOST GUN RETAILER FROM SELLING GHOST GUN KITS TO NYC RESIDENTS

 

Settlement Follows Three Other Settlements in August

 

City’s June Lawsuit Against One Remaining Defendant Continues


New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced an agreement with online ghost gun retailer Arm or Ally that stops the company’s illegal selling and delivering of gun components to New York City residents. These ghost gun components are used to assemble illegal and untraceable firearms and pose a grave risk to New Yorkers. The agreement with Arm or Ally — based in Kansas City, Missouri — is the fourth agreement the city has reached with online ghost gun retailers following a lawsuit filed against five companies in June 2022. The Adams administration announced three previous agreements with Rainier Arms (based in North Auburn, Washington), Rock Slide USA (based in Broadway, North Carolina), and Salvo Technologies (doing business as 80P Builder and based in Largo, Florida).

 

“Our city will not allow ghost guns to endanger New Yorkers and continue to carve highways of death in our communities,” said Mayor Adams. “Thanks to the strong collaboration between our law enforcement agencies, we have now already been able to hold four of the five companies named in our lawsuit accountable for selling and delivering these illegal weapons to our city and stop their unlawful conduct dead in their tracks. This represents yet another aggressive step our administration has taken to keep New Yorkers safe from the scourge of gun violence and reduce illegal gun possessions across our city.”

 

“The city is focused on using every tool it can to keep these deadly, untraceable weapons out of our communities,” said New York City Corporation Counsel Sylvia Hinds-Radix. “This latest settlement is good news for New Yorkers concerned about the violence caused by ghost guns. With each settlement, the city has sent a clear message: We will hold accountable any ghost gun retailer who threatens public safety and thinks they are above the law.”

 

As part of today’s agreement with Arm or Ally, the seller agrees — among other things — to:

  • Immediately stop selling ghost gun components to New York City residents,
  • Implement a technological bar to any such sales in the future, and
  • Provide the city with its sales data for all such sales since 2020.

 

In addition to Arm or Ally, Salvo Technologies, Rainier Arms, and Rock Slide USA, New York City filed suit against Indie Guns (based in Orlando, Florida) in June. That suit continues. 

 

In addition to the city’s lawsuit, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed her own lawsuit in June against 10 defendants — including the five the city sued — for selling tens of thousands of illegal, unfinished frames and receivers to New Yorkers that were then converted into unserialized, untraceable handguns and assault-style weapons.

 

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress Combating COVID-19 - OCTOBER 13, 2022

COVID-19 Vaccine Vials

 Governor Encourages New Yorkers to Keep Using the Tools to Protect Against and Treat COVID-19: Vaccines, Boosters, Testing, and Treatment

29 Statewide Deaths Reported Yesterday


 Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19.

"I urge New Yorkers to take advantage of all available tools to keep themselves, their loved ones and their communities safe and healthy this fall," Governor Hochul said. "Stay up to date on vaccine doses, and test before gatherings or travel. If you test positive, talk to your doctor about potential treatment options."

Governor Hochul continues to urge New Yorkers to get their bivalent COVID-19 vaccine boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech for anyone age 12 or older and from Moderna for those 18 or older. On October 12, the bivalent booster was approved by the FDA and CDC for anyone age 5 and older for the Pfizer-BioNTech and 6 and older for Moderna, and these will be available in the coming days. To schedule an appointment for a booster, New Yorkers should contact their local pharmacy, county health department, or healthcare provider; visit vaccines.gov; text their ZIP code to 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233 to find nearby locations.

In addition, Governor Hochul is encouraging New Yorkers to get their annual flu vaccine as flu season is already widespread across New York State. The flu virus and the virus that causes COVID-19 are both currently circulating, so getting vaccinated against both is the best way to stay healthy and to avoid added stress to the health care system.

The State Department of Health on Saturday announced the launch of its annual public education campaign, reminding adults and parents to get both flu and COVID-19 shots for themselves and children 6 months and older. The advertisements, which will run in both English and Spanish language, began running on Monday, October 10.

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

  • Cases Per 100k - 24.61
  • 7-Day Average Cases Per 100k - 19.53
  • Test Results Reported - 66,784
  • Total Positive - 4,810
  • Percent Positive - 6.76%**
  • 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 6.42%**
  • Patient Hospitalization - 2,663 (+5)
  • Patients Newly Admitted - 499
  • Patients in ICU - 280 (+16)
  • Patients in ICU with Intubation - 84 (-6)
  • Total Discharges - 350,120 (+471)
  • New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 29
  • Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 58,383

** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and several other factors, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.

The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.

Important Note: Effective Monday, April 4, the federal Department of Health and Human Services is no longer requiring testing facilities that use COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to report negative results. As a result, New York State's percent positive metric will be computed using only lab-reported PCR results. Positive antigen tests will still be reported to New York State and reporting of new daily cases and cases per 100k will continue to include both PCR and antigen tests. Due to this change and other factors, including changes in testing practices, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.

  • Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC - 74,542

This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.

Each New York City borough's 7-day average percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows **:

Borough  

Monday,  

October  

10, 2022 

Tuesday,  

October  

11, 2022 

Wednesday,  

October  

12, 2022 

Bronx 

5.03% 

4.84% 

4.84% 

Kings 

3.93% 

3.39% 

3.48% 

New York 

4.85% 

4.73% 

4.92% 

Queens 

5.95% 

5.92% 

5.93% 

Richmond 

7.44% 

7.50% 

7.22%