Council
Member , Chair of the Public Safety Committee, and
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. hosted a press conference
announcing legislation – which will be introduced at the Stated Meeting
on August 22nd – making the City’s existing gun offender
registry open to the public online and calling on the State to create a
statewide registry.
Vallone
and Diaz were joined at the press conference by Senate Co-Leader Jeff
Klein, Assembly Member Carl Heastie, Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh and
Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito.
The
city’s gun offender registry – which was created in 2006 by Council
Member Vallone and Mayor Michael Bloomberg as the first of its kind in
the nation, subsequently copied in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, DC
and other locations – is currently only available to the NYPD. However,
Vallone’s bill would make the registry accessible to the public online,
allowing residents to be aware of dangerous gun offenders in their
communities.
Borough
President Diaz proposed a statewide registry in his 2013 “State of the
Borough” address, and this resolution represents the first step toward
this goal.
In
accordance with the registries, defendants convicted of certain gun
crimes must register their addresses with the police, verify them in
person every six months and promptly notify the police if they change
addresses for four years after their release from prison. Some dangerous
felons have gone back to prison for failing to comply with these
guidelines, with 11 arrests in 2012 alone for not registering.
Statistics
show that 30 percent of all shootings in New York City have been
committed by a small group of offenders — mostly members of youth gangs –
and the registries will keep their whereabouts known to both law
enforcement and the public. Numerous studies have also shown that
illegal gun possession has a very high risk of recidivism, and New York
City statistics have indicated that those convicted of felony gun
possession were more likely to be rearrested when compared to other
felons. Forty-two percent of those re-arrests were likely to be on
violent charges, compared to 25 percent for those not convicted of gun
crimes, and gun offenders were also four times more likely to be
arrested for homicide. As of December 2012, there were 595 eligible gun
offenders in New York City, 302 of whom are currently back in jail.
“New
York City’s gun offender registry has kept the spotlight of the law on
the most dangerous criminals among us – and it is time for the entire
State to follow in our footsteps and utilize this effective
crime-fighting tool which helped the NYPD and Commissioner Raymond Kelly
make New York the safest big city in America. We cannot allow these
violent offenders to slip through the cracks upon their release from
prison, and these bills will keep residents and law enforcement officers
across the state well aware of their locations,” said Council Member Vallone.
“A
safer New York State, and a safer nation, demands that we shine a light
on those individuals who would commit gun crimes in our neighborhoods.
An easily-accessible gun crime registry will serve as an excellent tool
not only to keep neighborhoods informed about crime, but to serve as a
deterrent from such acts,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
Senator
Klein said: “When it comes to preventing gun violence, New Yorkers
deserve to have every effective tool at their disposal. New York City's
gun offender registry has helped make our city one of the safest in the
nation. That's because it shines a spotlight on the types of criminals
who too often use a gun to commit a crime. That's why I will continue to
push--and introduce--legislation to expand the gun offender registry
statewide. By providing law enforcement and everyday New Yorkers with
more information about potential threats, we can and will prevent more
gun crimes in communities across New York.”
