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Bronx Politics and Community events
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Comprehensive Ten-Bill Package Closes Critical Gun Law Loopholes Exposed in Tragic Shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde
Legislation S.9458/A.10503 Bars Purchase of Semiautomatic Rifles by Anyone Under Age 21 by Requiring a License
Legislation S.9407-B/A.10497 Prohibits Purchase of Body Armor with Exception of Those in Specified Professions
Legislation S.9113-A./A.10502 Expands List of People Who Can File Extreme Risk Protection Orders and Requires Law Enforcement to File ERPOs Under Specified Set of Circumstances
Package Also Strengthens Crime Reporting; Closes "Other Gun" Loophole; Requires Microstamping of New Semiautomatic Pistols; Eliminates Grandfathering of High-Capacity Feeding Devices; Requires Social Media Companies to Improve Response to and Reporting of Hateful Content
Governor Kathy Hochul today signed a landmark legislative package to immediately strengthen the state's gun laws, close critical loopholes exposed by shooters in Buffalo and Uvalde and protect New Yorkers from the scourge of gun violence that continues to infect our nation and endanger our communities. Governor Hochul signed the bills at the Northeast Bronx YMCA flanked by Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Speaker Carl Heastie, partners in the legislature, Attorney General Letitia James and victims and survivors of gun violence.
"Gun violence is an epidemic that is tearing our country apart. Thoughts and prayers won't fix this, but taking strong action will," Governor Hochul said. "In New York, we're taking bold steps to protect the people of our state. I am proud to sign a comprehensive bill package that prohibits the sale of semiautomatic weapons to people under 21, bans body armor sales outside of people in select professions, closes critical gun law loopholes and strengthens our Red Flag Law to keep guns away from dangerous people—new measures that I believe will save lives. I am thankful to Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Speaker Heastie, and all our legislative partners for acting with the urgency and thoughtfulness that this issue demands. While we are taking expedient action to enhance New York State's nation-leading gun laws, we recognize that gun violence is a nationwide problem. I once again urge Congress to follow our lead and take immediate action to pass meaningful gun violence prevention measures. Lives depend on it."
Raising the Age to Purchase Semiautomatic Rifles
Legislation S.9458/A.10503 requires individuals to obtain a license prior to purchasing a semiautomatic rifle. Under preexisting New York State law, individuals must be 21 years or older to acquire a gun license.
Banning Body Armor
Legislation S.9407-B/A.10497 makes it illegal to purchase and sell body vests for anyone who is not engaged in an eligible profession. Eligible professions include law enforcement officers and other professions, which will be designated by the Department of State in consultation with other agencies. It also requires that all body vest sales are completed in-person.
Strengthening the Red Flag Law
Legislation S.9113-A/A.10502 expands who may file an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) petition to include health care practitioners who have examined an individual within the last six months.
It amends the firearm licensing statute to ensure that mental health practitioners' reports on potentially harmful individuals are considered closely when determining whether to issue a firearm license.
It also requires police and district attorneys to file ERPO petitions when they have acquired credible information that an individual is likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm—either to themselves or others.
It requires State Police and the Municipal Police Training Council to create and disseminate policies and procedures to identify when an ERPO petition may be warranted.
Microstamping
Legislation S.4116-A/A.7926-A requires the Division of Criminal Justice Services to certify or decline to certify that microstamping-enabled pistols are technologically viable and if certified as viable, to establish programs and processes for the implementation of such technology; and establishes the crime of the unlawful sale of a non-microstamping-enabled firearm.
Microstamping is an innovative ammunition-marking technique that marks bullets and cartridge cases with a unique fingerprint each time a firearm is discharged. This allows investigators to link bullets and casings recovered at crime scenes to a specific gun and potentially other crimes.
Closing Loopholes
Legislation S.9456/A.10504 expands the definition of a "firearm" to include any weapon not defined in the Penal Law that is designed or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by action of an explosive. This is intended to capture firearms that have been modified to be shot from an arm brace, which are evading our current definitions of firearms and rifles.
Legislation S.9229-A/A.10428-A eliminates the grandfathering of large capacity ammunition feeding devices that were lawfully possessed prior to the enactment of the Safe Act or manufactured prior to 1994.
Legislation S.89-B/A.6716-A creates the crimes of making a threat of mass harm and aggravated making a threat of mass harm.
Enhancing Information Sharing
Legislation S.4970-A/A.1023-A requires enhanced reporting by law enforcement to the state and federal gun databases. Agencies must report seized or recovered guns to the criminal gun clearinghouse; participate in the ATF's collective data sharing program; and enter the make, model, caliber, and serial number of the gun into the national crime information center.
The law also requires gun dealers to enact uniform security and reporting standards. It prohibits those under 18 and not accompanied by a parent from entering certain locations of a gun dealer's premises and requires training for all employees on conducting firearm, rifle, and shotgun transfers, including identification of and response to illegal purchases. It also requires State Police to conduct inspections of gun dealers every three years.
Improving Response and Reporting of Hateful and Threatening Social Media Content
Legislation S.4511-A/A.7865-A requires social media networks in New York to provide a clear and concise policy regarding how they would respond to incidents of hateful conduct on their platform and maintain easily accessible mechanisms for reporting hateful conduct on those platforms
Legislation S.9465/A.10501 creates a new Task Force on Social Media and Violent Extremism. Housed in the Office of the Attorney General, the Task Force will study and investigate the role of social media companies in promoting and facilitating violent extremism and domestic terrorism online.
This robust set of new laws, designed to provide immediate enhanced protections and developed and approved in partnership with Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Carl Heastie, builds on two Executive Orders issued in the immediate wake of the Buffalo shooting.
The first Executive Order is designed to fight the troubling surge in domestic terrorism and violent extremism frequently inspired by, planned on and posted about on social media platforms and internet forums. The Executive Order calls on the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to establish a new unit, dedicated solely to the prevention of domestic terrorism, within the Division's Office of Counter Terrorism. This new unit will focus on threat assessment management, disbursing funding to localities to create and operate their own threat assessment management teams and utilizing social media to intervene in the radicalization process. It will also educate law enforcement members, mental health professionals and school officials on the recent uptick in domestic and homegrown violent extremism and radicalization, as well as create best practices for identifying and intervening in the radicalization process.
The Executive Order also calls on New York State Police to establish a dedicated unit within the New York State Intelligence Center (NYSIC) to track domestic violent extremism through social media. The unit will develop investigative leads through social media analysis, with a specific focus on identifying possible threats and individuals motivated by radicalization and violent extremism. Finally, the Executive Order calls on every county to perform an exhaustive review of its current strategies, policies and procedures for confronting threats of domestic terrorism.
The second Executive Order will require State Police to file for an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) under New York State's Red Flag Law whenever they have probable cause to believe that an individual is a threat to themselves or others.
Governor Hochul also issued a referral to the Office of the Attorney General under Executive Law Section 63(8) to investigate and study the social media platforms that were utilized by the Buffalo shooting suspect to broadcast, promote, and facilitate violence, espouse hate, and legitimize replacement theory. Findings from the investigation will be used to enhance and build on New York State's strategy for combatting hate and violent extremism.
Permits have been filed for a seven-story mixed-use building at 1334 Southern Boulevard in Cortona Park East, The Bronx. Located between Jennings and Freeman Streets, the lot is one block north of the Freeman Street subway station, serviced by the 2 and 5 trains. Marsel Bitanji of B&B 2 Builders LLC is listed as the owner behind the applications.
The proposed 70-foot-tall development will yield 19,021 square feet designated for residential space. The building will have 29 residences, most likely rentals based on the average unit scope of 655 square feet. The masonry-based structure will also have 40-foot-long rear yard and retail space on the ground floor.
Node Architecture Engineering Consulting PC is listed as the architect of record.
Demolition permits were filed in March for the single-story commercial building on the site. An estimated completion date has not been announced.
For the month of May 2022, the number of overall shooting incidents again declined in New York City compared with May 2021, continuing the downward trend in gun violence in the second quarter of the calendar year. Citywide shooting incidents decreased by 31.4% (118 v. 172), marked by declines in every patrol borough except Staten Island, where the tally remained even at three in May 2022 compared with May 2021. The number of overall hate crimes also declined for the month, by 10%, (63 v. 73) compared to the same period last year.
Additionally, there were 414 gun arrests in May 2022, bringing the total number of citywide gun arrests in 2022 to 2,007 – a 4.4% increase compared with the 1,923 gun arrests through the first five months of 2021. In its continuing work to eradicate gun violence, the NYPD has seized approximately 3,080 firearms so far in 2022, at a time when its gun arrests are at a 28-year high.
Overall index crime in New York City increased by 27.8% in May 2022 compared with May 2021 (10,414 v. 8,149). Each of the seven major index crime categories saw increases, driven by a 42.1% increase in grand larceny (4,116 v. 2,897); a 28.3% rise in burglary (1,239 v. 966); and a 26.2% increase in robbery (1,506 v. 1,193).
“We have pointed every resource we have at reducing gun violence in this city. We have seen seven straight weeks of shootings going down – and that is not a coincidence,” said Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell. “We are using an intelligence-led approach and gun arrests are being made in numbers we haven’t seen in almost 30 years, but we understand that we have to be relentless because lives depend on it.”
The reduction in shootings in May 2022 is part of a growing trend that reflects the NYPD’s work earlier this year with the rollout of new Neighborhood Safety Teams, which have seized 105 firearms and effected 115 gun arrests since their inception in mid-March. It also coincides with the NYPD’s continuing work to develop and investigate intelligence-based, long-term cases focused on the very few New Yorkers willing to pick up a gun and use it.
Just days ago, investigators with the NYPD’s Gun Violence Suppression Division arrested 22 alleged members of a violent Bloods-affiliated crew in the Bronx – who used Drill Rap to amplify their alleged criminality. They are charged in a 65-count indictment with conspiracy to commit murder and other charges related to several shootings. The Gun Violence Suppression Division began in southern Brooklyn in December 2014, and has now expanded citywide. It is a sustained model for combatting gun crime and holding violent criminals accountable for their actions.
Also in May 2022, the NYPD’s Firearms Suppression Section – as well as the Ghost Gun Team of the department’s Criminal Intelligence Section – continued the important work of interdicting hundreds of illegal firearms flowing into New York City through the traditional “iron pipeline” and the increasingly exploited “plastic pipeline.”
These operations employ all the tools of the department’s precision-policing philosophy to keep New Yorkers safe, and they work to keep the focus of the criminal justice system where it belongs: on the victims.
CITYWIDE
May 2022 | May 2021 | +/- | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Murder | 45 | 41 | +4 | +9.8% |
Rape | 157 | 114 | +43 | +37.7% |
Robbery | 1506 | 1193 | +313 | +26.2% |
Fel. Assault | 2307 | 2043 | +264 | +12.9% |
Burglary | 1239 | 966 | 273 | 28.3% |
Grand Larceny | 4116 | 2897 | +1219 | +42.1% |
Grand Larceny Auto | 1044 | 895 | +149 | +16.6% |
TOTAL | 10414 | 8149 | +2265 | +27.8% |
May 2022 | May 2021 | +/- | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Transit | 219 | 171 | +48 | +28.1% |
Housing | 519 | 481 | +38 | +7.9% |
Citywide Shooting Incidents | 118 | 172 | -54 | -31.4% |
(Representing May 1st – May 31st for calendar years 2022 and 2021)
Motivation | 2022 | 2021 | Diff | % Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
Asian | 7 | 15 | -8 | -53% |
Black | 5 | 3 | +2 | +67% |
Disability | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
Ethnic | 4 | 2 | +2 | +100% |
Gender | 2 | 0 | +2 | -- |
Hispanic | 4 | 1 | +3 | +300% |
Jewish | 25 | 36 | -11 | -31% |
Muslim | 7 | 1 | +6 | +600% |
Religion | 1 | 2 | -1 | -50% |
Sexual Orientation | 8 | 8 | 0 | % |
White | 0 | 5 | -5 | -100% |
TOTAL | 63 | 73 | -10 | -14% |