By now, you know that I never mince words about the urgent threat that illegal guns pose to our everyday lives. Let me describe exactly how we will turn up the heat against all those who menace our streets by carrying or selling illegal guns. This year we will marshal all of our resources and work with all of our partners in public service –whether they are across the rotunda in City Hall up in Albany or in big cities across the nation– both to root out and punish these criminals and to stop the flow of illegal guns into our city
First, every felony gun defendant will be thoroughly de-briefed either by the Police Department’s elite Gun Suppression Squad that we are now forming or by district attorneys, or in many cases, by both. This will allow us to learn much more about where and how illegal guns are sold and by whom. Second, we will pilot new technology that uses microphones to instantly direct video cameras to the source of gun shots, ensuring that shooters are seen as well as heard. Third, we will continue using gun crimes to identify Impact Zones to crack down on shootings. Fourth, when gun offenders get re-arrested for any other crime – theft or assault, for instance – their cases will be red-flagged for prosecutors, judges, and probation and parole officers so that all law enforcement officials will know the threat these offenders pose.
As we marshal our resources to stiffen enforcement of existing laws, we will also ask our legislative partners to strengthen our laws. We will work with the City Council to enact a one-gun-every-three-months limit on purchases in New York City, and we will urge Albany to pass two pieces of critical legislation:
First, a Gun Offenders Registration Act – which would be a Megan’s Law for gun criminals. Like sex offenders, gun offenders present terrible risks for communities, and they should be required to regularly verify their addresses with the police. And second, a law to make criminal possession of a loaded gun a Class C felony with a 3 _ year minimum jail sentence. There is simply no reason why judges should have the discretion to let criminals who carry loaded illegal guns get off the hook with probation. Illegal guns have one purpose: to kill. Period. End of story!
We will do more than ever to detect and punish gun offenders, but when more than eight of every ten guns used in crimes come from other states, we must reach across state lines.
And we will. Right now, about 1 percent of gun dealers account for almost 60 percent of guns used in crimes nationally. This year, we are going to launch lawsuits against these irresponsible dealers, and we are going to hold them accountable for the terrible damage their guns cause.
We will also reach out to elected officials in other states to discuss potential policy and legislative changes, and new ways of sharing information. In our conversations with our sister cities and states we will not seek solutions that infringe on the rights of gun owners but we will seek to move beyond the knee-jerk opposition that special interests invariably pose against even the most basic and common sense efforts to clamp down on illegal guns.
Getting tough on illegal guns is not a conservative or liberal issue. It’s an issue of law and order and an issue of life and death. Only a few miles from here Detectives Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin were viciously murdered nearly three years ago. They were conducting one of the buy-and-bust operations that police officers do every day to keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. In the past four years, Detectives Patrick Rafferty, Robert Parker, Dillon Stewart, and Daniel Enchautegui all were gunned down in the line of duty. Today, I’m honored to say, we are joined by members of their families, and I’d ask them to stand.
To all the family members here with us today: We will never forget the debt we owe to your loved ones and to all the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice protecting us. But we will also never forget your sacrifice. And I make you this promise: I will never give in to those who accept the spread of illegal guns and their deadly consequences. Never. I will do whatever it takes – in the memory of your sons, your husbands, your brothers, your fathers, and our brave heroes.
