Addabbo and community call for tougher gun laws

[WhiteFeather]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...d=574908&rfi=6)

Addabbo and community call for tougher gun laws

In light of recent crimes committed throughout the city at gunpoint and the increase in south Queens’ homicide rate, lawmakers, community leaders and residents are calling for tougher gun restrictions.

City Councilman Joseph Addabbo Jr. — the democratic contender in the race against state Sen. Serphin Maltese for the 15th Senate District seat — called New York State’s gun laws lax and, along with Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer, accused Senate republicans of stonewalling gun-restricting legislation.

“We can do better in Albany,” Addabbo said, referring to the Senate’s failure to pass two bills previously proposed in the Assembly. “Enough is enough. ... We want to keep our communities safe and supportive places for people to raise their families, yet recent gun violence is a serious obstacle to that goal.”

Joining Addabbo under the A train on Liberty Avenue and 99th Street in Ozone Park on Thursday to condemn the recent gun violence were Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, and Elizabeth Goldsmith, founder and president of Mothers Against Guns.

Desai spoke on behalf of the NYTWA, which represents more than 11,000 workers who have been disproportionately targeted by the use of illegal guns. She noted that taxi drivers are 60 times more likely to be killed on the job than any other worker and that “Taxi drivers are on the front lines of violence every day, and this month has been one of the bloodiest.”

Three taxi drivers in various parts of the city were attacked at gunpoint last month. During a routine day of work in Manhattan on Aug. 7, 62-year-old Enois Malbranche was shot and blinded by three young women riding in the back of his cab. On Aug. 22, an Elmhurst livery cab driver was shot in the face by his passenger, and a third driver was shot in the Bronx on Aug. 27.

It has become a working issue for the taxi industry, Desai noted. She joined Addabbo and Pheffer in saying the state Senate was responsible, in part, for its failure to support comprehensive gun legislation to limit gun violence.

It had two opportunities to do so, according to Addabbo. The Senate did not pass two bills proposed in the Assembly that were aimed at increasing gun dealers responsibilities and requirements, and assisting police in identifying crime guns without possessing the actual weapon.

The first bill, the Gun Dealer Responsibility Act, would define responsible business practices for gun dealers and allow the state to identify and prosecute rogue or sloppy gun dealers who supply the streets with illegal guns.

Among the regulations for gun dealers proposed in this bill are the requirements to maintain accurate inventories of weapons, train employees to recognize straw purchasers and follow laws requiring background checks and other safety measures.

The other legislation, which Pheffer sponsored in the Assembly, would allow police to use micro-stamping technology that stamps an identifying number into the cartridge of a weapon, making it easier to link a cartridge left at a crime scene with the gun used in the crime, even if the gun is never found.

“Gun violence is an unnecessary evil that destroys the lives of so many,” Goldsmith said. “And unless common sense state and federal legislation is enacted, we will continue to see the flow of blood in the streets of our communities.”

Just last week, an 18-year-old woman was accosted in South Ozone Park, and robbed and raped at gunpoint. On Aug. 16 a 22-year-old Richmond Hill man allegedly strangled a man to death over a rent money dispute. Recent NYPD statistics indicate the homicide rate in south Queens has increased from last year by up to 400 percent in some areas.

Gun violence, Desai said, “creates victims on both sides of the barrel.”

New York State Gun Laws Ranking

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence issues an annual legislative scorecard to every state in the country, rating each on its policies in various categories. Out of a possible 100 points, New York scored 51 in 2007.

Protecting Child Safety
States can earn up to 20 points in this category by requiring that only childproof handguns be sold within their borders. New York only earned five points.

Curb Firearms Trafficking
States that do this successfully can earn 35 points. New York scored 15 points.

Brady Background Checks
A state can score 25 points if it has tough and comprehensive background check requirements. New York earned 13 points in this category.

Note

Did you notice no rating on locking criminals up for using firearm is there?

Where is the rating for successful criminal prosecutions of existing gun laws?


What gives an this anti-group the ability to rate states based on laws enacted, as IF only enacting LAWS would solve the problem.

If just passing laws to outlaw things like rape, theft, drugs and murder would stop everything, numerous laws already would have stopped it in the 18th century.




This anti-gun group ONLY wants to enact laws against inanimate objects, Never, EVER do you ever read about them focusing their efforts against repeat criminals, complaining about early release of repeat violent criminals or District Attorney’s and Judges routinely plea bargaining firearm violations in existing laws away, .

All you will ever read it them lobbying for more laws to ban legal firearms used by citizens to protect them from the criminal elements.

So why should anyone listen to them, how about the proof backed up with criminal convictions on how there laws REALLY did anything where enacted other than being a "feel good" measure......

[jerkin]

Agree 100%, look at the thread in the lounge right now. A guy was found guilty of molesting an 8 year old in New York and got probation! They should put the judge on trial for that sentence. A million laws on the books won't change anything when criminals know they will only receive a slap on the wrist.

[smitty56]

Create new gun laws?
What if they just passed laws against murder and robbery?
If a person has the criminal intent to harm others to the point of taking a life, a law against using a gun would seem pretty small in the scheme of things.

The taxi driver was protesting the violence against cab drivers. A violent person will cause harm in any way that meets the need whether it be a gun, a knife, or an available brick. NYC is one of the hardest regulated cities in the nation and they got a low rating from Brady?

It is a lofty goal to think that if you passed a law to "keep guns off the street" that then the people would be protected. The only people not having guns after that would be the law abiding citizens. The criminals would STILL have guns because it's the whole nature of being a criminal.


An armed society is a polite society.
http://www.stentorian.com/2ndamend/leaflets/armed.html