“The gun violence epidemic has touched the lives of far too many Long Island families,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “Police departments are doing amazing work to fight illegal guns, but we still find too many guns pouring into New York and into the hands of criminals. This new data makes clear: we need common sense action at both the state and federal levels to protect our communities.”
The ground-breaking analysis shows that 74 percent of all crime guns recovered by law enforcement between 2010 and 2015 originated out-of-state, and nearly nine out of ten (86 percent) of recovered handguns come from out-of-state.
Of all crime guns recovered on Long Island, 73 percent came from out-of-state, the second highest rate in the state; 85 percent of handguns – the weapon of choice for violence criminals – recovered on Long Island came from out-of-state. In total, Long Island saw 4,844 crime guns recovered or just over 9% of all recoveries between 2010 and 2015. Long Island is also the second largest market in the state for crime handguns, with a total of 3,881 and the second largest percentage of handguns (80 percent).
The report released last week by the Attorney General, “Target on Trafficking: Analysis of New York Crime Guns,” and the new interactive tool examine the purchase history of the nearly 53,000 crime guns recovered by law enforcement in New York between 2010 and 2015. A crime gun is any gun connected to a crime that is recovered by law enforcement.
The Attorney General urged common sense federal and state action to stem the tide of illegal guns:
- Congress should require universal background checks and close the “gun show loophole.”
- Congress should make gun trafficking a federal crime; there is currently no comprehensive law that criminalizes each stage of illegal gun trafficking.
- Congress should expand access to aggregate trace data so non-law enforcement actors can analyze crime gun data to make more informed decisions about gun laws and law enforcement strategies.
- States should require licenses to own handguns.
- New York should pass the Gun Kingpin Bill to punish traffickers so severely (up to 25 years to life in prison) that the business becomes too risky a proposition.
“Gun violence continues to plague communities across our region and this problem has been further exacerbated by illegal gun trafficking,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. “I am grateful for Attorney General Schneiderman’s commitment. This first-of-its-kind Tracing Analytics Platform will significantly help our law enforcement personnel by analyzing and providing regionally-focused data to monitor gun trafficking trends.”
“Crime in Suffolk County is at a historic low, and the Suffolk County Police Department is committed to finding innovative ways to drive crime even lower. New tools that help us fight gun violence are essential to this goal,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy D. Sini said. “With the support of Attorney General Schneiderman and the Gun Trafficking Report, our department now has an additional innovative and valuable tool to use to better track where these weapons are originating and to combat the problem.”
“I know first-hand the dangers of illegal guns in the hands of dangerous people,” said Suffolk County Police Officer Mark Collins, who was shot in Huntington Station last year by a criminal who used an out-of-state gun. “I feel that any effort to combat illegal guns is necessary to protect the citizens of Suffolk County. I am proud to represent the Suffolk County Police Department with this extremely worthwhile program.”
The Attorney General’s office is the first statewide law enforcement agency to obtain and analyze such comprehensive crime gun data provided by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
The analysis showed sweeping and important trends in gun recoveries, particularly with regard to how out-of-state guns are flooding into New York from the “Iron Pipeline” — states with lax guns laws along the I-95 corridor, namely Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida – as well as from Ohio. These findings offer significant policy implications and context for state and national leaders striving to reduce gun trafficking and violence.
All WNY is made possible thanks to coffee and sleep deprivation.
We appreciate your readership. We like money, too.