Governor Kathy Hochul

State Police requests for protection orders under New York’s updated Red Flag law have increased 93% from 2021.

Governor Kathy Hochul said more Extreme Risk Protection Orders applications have been filed in the last three months than in all of 2021.

The increase comes after Hochul issued an Executive Order in the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo, “And I required our State Police, not an option, but a requirement, that they file a protection order whenever they have probable cause to believe that an individual is a threat to themselves or others. And on June 6th, I signed into state law, that that expanded it to all law enforcement agencies. So now, when the signs are there, they can immediately get guns out of the hands of these individuals. They do it temporarily at first, there’s a judge involved, and then you determine whether or not that needs to be permanent.”

A total of 832 temporary and final ERPOs have been issued in New York State in the past three months (May – August 2022), compared to the 1,424 issued from August 2019 to April 2022.

State Police have filed 184 red flag applications since Governor Hochul signed the Executive Order on May 18, 2022, a more than 93 percent increase over the 95 orders filed by State Police in all of 2021.

Suffolk County has been a leader in utilizing ERPOs since the Red Flag Law was enacted in August of 2019. Since the week of May 16, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office has served 114 protection orders, a more than 75 percent increase compared with all of 2021.

The final vote was 65 to 33 with 15 Republicans joining Democrats in support of the measure, marking a significant bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most contentious policy issues in the country. The bill will next go to the House for a vote before it can be sent to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

The bipartisan gun deal includes millions of dollars for mental health, school safety, crisis intervention programs and incentives for states to include juvenile records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

It also makes significant changes to the process when someone ages 18 to 21 goes to buy a firearm and closes the so-called boyfriend loophole, a victory for Democrats, who have long fought for that.

The package amounts to the most significant new federal legislation to address gun violence since the expired 10-year assault weapons ban of 1994 — though it fails to ban any weapons and falls far short of what Democrats and what polls show most Americans want to see.

The bill includes $750 million to help states implement and run crisis intervention programs. The money can be used to implement and manage red flag programs — which can temporarily prevent individuals in crisis from accessing firearms through a court order — and for other crisis intervention programs like mental health courts, drug courts and veterans courts.

This bill closes a years-old loophole in domestic violence law that barred individuals who were convicted of domestic violence crimes against married partners, or partners with whom they shared children or partners with whom they co-habitated, from having guns. Old statutes didn’t include intimate partners who may not live together, be married or share children. Now, the law will bar from having a gun anyone who is convicted of a domestic violence crime against someone they have a “continuing serious relationship of a romantic or intimate nature.”

The law isn’t retroactive. It will, however, allow those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence crimes to restore their gun rights after five years if they haven’t committed other crimes.

The bill encourages states to include juvenile records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System with grants as well as implements a new protocol for checking those records.

The bill goes after individuals who sell guns as primary sources of income but have previously evaded registering as federally licensed firearms dealers. It also increases funding for mental health programs and school security.

A split has emerged among some prominent members of House and Senate GOP leadership.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell supported the bipartisan gun deal. But top House Republican leaders have been lining up in opposition to the bill and are urging their members to vote “no.”

But even with House GOP leaders opposing the bill, there are already some House Republicans who have indicated they plan to vote for it, and the Democrat-controlled chamber is expected to be able to pass the legislation.

The Associated Press reports the proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, the accord was embraced by Biden and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress.

Leaders hope to push any agreement into law rapidly — they hope this month — before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas.

Participants cautioned that final details and legislative language remain to be completed, meaning fresh disputes and delays might emerge.

In a consequential development, 20 senators, including 10 Republicans, released a statement calling for passage. That is potentially crucial because the biggest obstacle to enacting the measure is probably in the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be needed to attain the usual 60-vote threshold for approval.

The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many perpetrators of recent years’ mass shootings have been young.

The agreement would offer money to states to enact and put in place “red flag” laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, plus funds to bolster school safety and mental health programs.

Some people who informally sell guns for profit would be required to obtain federal dealers’ licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of buyers. Convicted domestic abusers who do not live with a former partner, such as estranged ex-boyfriends, would be barred from buying firearms, and it would be a crime for a person to legally purchase a weapon for someone who would not qualify for ownership.

Congressional aides said billions of dollars would be spent expanding the number of community mental health centers and suicide prevention programs. But they said some spending decisions are unresolved, as are final wording on juvenile records and other gun provisions that might prove contentious.

The agreement was quickly endorsed by groups that support gun restrictions including Brady, Everytown for Gun Safety and March for Our Lives, which organized rallies held around the country on Saturday.

The National Rifle Association said in a statement that it opposes gun control and infringing on people’s “fundamental right to protect themselves and their loved ones,” but supports strengthening school security, mental health and law enforcement. The group has long exerted its sway with millions of firearms-owning voters to derail gun control drives in Congress.

The agreement represents a lowest common denominator compromise on gun violence. Lawmakers have demonstrated a newfound desire to move ahead after saying their constituents have shown a heightened desire for congressional action since Buffalo and Uvalde, but Republicans still oppose more sweeping steps that Democrats want and Sunday’s agreement omits.

These include banning assault-style firearms such as the AR-15 style rifles used in Buffalo and Uvalde, or raising the legal age for buying them.

Democrats have also wanted to ban high capacity magazines and to expand required background checks to far more gun purchases. None of those proposals has a chance in Congress.

The last major firearms restrictions enacted by lawmakers was the 1994 assault weapons ban, which Congress let expire 10 years later.

This makes New York the first state to approve legislation following shootings in Buffalo and Texas that left a total of 31 dead.

Lawmakers approved bills to broaden abortion protections and bolster voting rights, using the final hours of the 2022 legislative session to deliver the most robust response yet by a state in the face of federal gridlock.

Faced with a looming Supreme Court decision that could strike down Roe v. Wade, Democratic legislative leaders were fully behind a bill package aimed at protecting abortion service providers from legal or professional backlash, among other things.

Legislators also approved new measures to combat voter suppression under the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York, invoking the former congressman and civil rights leader in a nod to the voting rights bill that failed to pass in Congress.

Governor Kathy Hochul, who has already expressed support for many of the bills, is widely expected to sign them into law.

New York will now become the second state, following California, to pass legislation paving the way for the “microstamping” of shell cases with a unique alphanumeric code in order to trace the bullet back to the gun it was fired from. The bill, spearheaded by State Senator Brad Hoylman of Manhattan, is meant to help officials solve crimes, but some Republicans questioned the viability of the technology and argued it amounted to an unnecessary barrier for gun manufacturers.

The legislation that now makes the sale of body vests unlawful — except to police officers and other designated people — came after it was revealed that the 18-year-old gunman who killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket had worn body armor, an increasingly common feature in mass shootings that is typically loosely regulated.

New York — which already bans military-style assault rifles — will also join a handful of states that have raised the minimum age requirement to 21 from 18 for the purchase of some long guns, the same age as for handguns in New York. New buyers of such weapons will now be required to obtain a permit — which includes undergoing a background check and safety course — before the purchase of a semiautomatic rifle.

Hochul vocally lobbied for the legislation, but it could face legal challenges from the gun industry just as the Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling this month that could strike down a New York law that sharply limits a person’s ability to carry a weapon outside the home, a potential win for gun-rights groups.

The bills, which cemented New York’s standing as one of the most Democratic statehouses in the country, came as President Biden delivered remarks on Thursday night urging Congress to pass a federal ban on assault weapons and new “red flag” laws.

But some lawmakers privately griped that the focus on national headline-grabbing issues had overshadowed conversation around more New York-centric concerns in the waning days of the legislative session.

Many in the party’s left wing were disappointed that some left-leaning legislation was not prioritized, from beefed-up protections against evictions to elder parole. Environmentally conscious legislation like the one that would allow the New York Power Authority to build publicly-owned renewable energy projects, passed in the Senate but remained unsettled in the Assembly.

Even so, lawmakers appeared poised to pass a two-year moratorium on cryptocurrency mining at fossil fuel plants. The proposal was passed by the Assembly, but stalled in the Senate, until late-night discussions on Thursday revived the measure. The bill, which is heavily opposed by the cryptocurrency industry, is the first of its kind in the country, aimed at addressing environmental concerns over the most energy intensive forms of crypto mining.

Less certain was the fate of a criminal justice reform bill that would seal most criminal records after formerly incarcerated individuals have completed their sentences. The bill — known as the Clean Slate Act — passed the Senate, but has been held up in the Assembly. The measure received an unexpected boost Thursday night, however, with the news that the New York State Education Department had come on board, stoking rumors of a last minute push.

There was a far broader consensus on abortion rights, as New York State leaders vowed to make the state a national leader on the issue following news reports that indicated the Supreme Court was poised to overturn the landmark decision from 1973 that made abortion legal across the country.

Lawmakers followed through on that pledge this week with bills aimed at strengthening New York’s existing laws and preparing the state for a surge of people seeking abortions from elsewhere.

One bill passed by both houses will sharply limit the ability of law enforcement from cooperating with criminal or civil cases in states where abortion is restricted. Others ensure doctors have access to malpractice insurance, and aren’t hit with professional misconduct charges for serving patients from states where abortion is a crime.

Still others aim to use the conversation around abortion rights to solidify other liberties under attack. One measure which has been passed by both houses protects the rights of individuals traveling to New York seeking reproductive care as well as transgender or nonbinary people seeking gender-affirming care.

An amendment to the State Constitution that would forbid discrimination based on pregnancy outcomes — or race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender expression — was being hashed out well into the final week of the session, with lawmakers struggling to balance civil liberties with religious ones. As of Thursday, a compromise failed to emerge.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which passed both the Senate and the Assembly, invokes a similarly named bill in Congress that would restore parts of the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 recently gutted by the Supreme Court. That bill passed the House of Representatives in 2021, but has twice failed in the Senate, where Democrats hold a slim majority.

The bill requires localities with demonstrated histories of discrimination to prove that any proposed changes to their election process will not result in voter suppression.It would also require more election materials to be translated for non-English speakers and offer voters legal protections in instances of obstruction or intimidation.

Legislative reporters said the State Senate finished voting around 2:30 this morning with the State Assembly expected to reconvene at 9:30 this morning to finish voting on measures.

Governor Kathy Hochul announces executive orders, legislation to strengthen gun control laws, combat domestic terrorism (May 18, 2022)

Ten bills tightening gun laws have been introduced in the New York State Legislature.

The agreement comes in the wake of mass shootings at a Texas elementary school and a Buffalo supermarket that left dozens dead and prompted renewed calls for change at the national level.

Governor Kathy Hochul said New York must step up as it remains unclear if Congress will take action, and stated, “Within the last month, two horrific mass shootings in Buffalo and in Texas have rattled this nation to our core and shed a new light on the urgent need for action to prevent future tragedies. New York already has some of the toughest gun laws in the country but clearly we need to make them even stronger.”

The package includes measures prohibiting the sale and purchase of body armor for anyone not in law enforcement and closing the “any other weapon” loophole that allows the sale of certain weapons that would otherwise be banned. Another bill could lead to the microstamping of ammunition.

Among the biggest changes to New York’s gun laws will be a new requirement that anyone seeking to buy a semiautomatic rifle must be at least 21, up from 18, and must first obtain a gun license.

Currently, licenses and permits are needed only for handguns.

Other bills will strengthen the state’s “red flag” law, which helps remove guns from those who may be a threat to themselves or others, and create a new “Task Force on Social Media and Violent Extremism” within the attorney general’s office to “study and investigate the role of social media companies in promoting and facilitating violent extremism and domestic terrorism online.”

Lawmakers are expected to vote on the package before the scheduled end of the legislative session Thursday, June 2.

Other bills slated for approval will eliminate the grandfathering of large-capacity ammunition feeding devices lawfully possessed prior to the enactment of the SAFE Act in 2013 or manufactured prior to 1994.

Under the new laws, police will have to report seized or recovered guns to the criminal gun clearinghouse and share information with federal authorities as well as test-fire seized or recovered guns for the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.

The state police will also be required to conduct inspections of gun dealers every three years.

Governor Kathy Hochul announces executive orders, legislation to strengthen gun control laws, combat domestic terrorism (May 18, 2022)

Governor Kathy Hochul introduced an array of executive orders and new legislation Wednesday in response to a mass shooting in Buffalo last week.

The Associated Press reports Hochul’s announcement came days after a White 18-year-old wearing military gear killed 10 Black shoppers and workers at the supermarket using a rifle purchased legally a few months ago.

New York is among states that have a “red flag” law, which allows law enforcement officials to petition a court to take away someone’s guns if they are potentially dangerous because of a mental health problem.

That law was in place last spring when state police questioned the shooting suspect over comments he made as a high school student about wanting to commit a murder-suicide. He was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation under a state mental health law, and released a day and a half later.

State Police did not, however, initiate the court process to temporarily take away the suspect’s access to guns following the incident.

Hochul said state police must now file for extreme risk protection orders under New York’s red flag law when they have probable cause to believe someone is a threat to themselves or others.

According to State Police Superintendent Kevin Bruen, State police themselves have successfully applied for 300 of over 1,000 protection orders granted by courts under the red flag law, which became effective in fall 2019.

Hochul said such orders typically last for one year but can be renewed. Courts can bar people from possessing or buying firearms or order them to give up firearms.

Hochul’s executive order mostly affects people who interact with police on the highway or people who live outside of New York City and the state’s biggest communities: New York state police serve the state’s highway system and typically rural communities in need of law enforcement assistance.

New York will also track and try to stop violent domestic extremism on social media through new units in the state police and the state’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.

The new units will fund local threat assessment management teams, as well as track and intervene when people show signs of radicalization through their social media posts. New York will also train law enforcement, school and mental health professionals about the uptick in domestic and homegrown violent extremism and radicalization.

The governor wants lawmakers to pass her bill to make more kinds of guns subject to the state’s firearm laws. Hochul said the nation has almost become desensitized to the devastation of mass shootings and gun violence, and the spread of extremist ideology online.

Attorney General Letitia James simultaneously announced the launch of an investigation into social media companies that the suspected shooter allegedly used to discuss his plans for the killings.

Domestic terror attacks and plots have tripled nationally in the past decade, the governor’s office noted Wednesday. The office stated there were 73 terrorist attacks or unearthed plots in the U.S. last year, including 38 White supremacist and similarly like-minded attacks or plots.

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo

ALBANY – Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Monday that he says prevents individuals who show signs of being a threat to themselves or others from purchasing or possessing any kind of firearm. The Red Flag Bill, also known as the extreme risk protection order bill, prevents individuals who show signs of being a threat to themselves or others from purchasing or possessing any kind of firearm.

The governor said the Red Flag Bill provides procedural safeguards to ensure that no firearm is removed without due process while ensuring that tragedies, like the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, are not repeated. In this mass shooting, the shooter was reported by multiple sources to be disturbed and dangerous yet was allowed to purchase and possess deadly firearms.

“Today New York is proud to pass the first-in-the-nation Red Flag Bill that empowers school teachers to do something when they believe something bad is going to happen. We are empowering teachers not by giving them guns like the President wants – but by arming and empowering them with the law, so when a teacher or family member sees there is a problem, they can go to a judge and get a court-ordered evaluation. The Red Flag Bill will save lives and doesn’t infringe on anybody’s rights and it is common sense,” Cuomo said.

“In fact, more than half of all perpetrators of mass shootings exhibit warning signs before the shooting In these cases, an extreme risk protection order could have prevented countless, needless deaths,” the governor said in a media release. 

According to the governor, the Red Flag Bill builds on the Safe Act that was approved in 2013 following the Sandy Hook mass school shooting in Connecticut.

Even with the new changes, Gun shop owners in New York say this new legislation won’t change the way they operate much.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi joined the governor in releasing a statement on the signing.

Andrew Cuomo

ALBANY – Governor Andrew Cuomo Thursday vowed passage of legislation in the first 100 days of the new legislative session to combat gun violence and make New York’s nation-leading gun laws even stronger.

First, the Governor vowed to pass the Red Flag Bill, also known as the extreme risk protection order bill, which would prevent individuals who show signs of being a threat to themselves or others from purchasing or possessing any kind of firearm.

In addition, the Governor will push to ban bump stocks and extend the background check waiting period for purchasing guns from three to ten days.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered his 2019 agenda on Monday, Dec. 17, 2018

ALBANY – Governor Andrew Cuomo laid out his agenda for the first 100 days of 2019 during a wide-ranging speech Monday in Manhattan, where he vowed to set New York on a progressive course that he says would make President Franklin Roosevelt proud.

Cuomo laid out dozens of measures he says he will push at the start of his third term, which begins Jan. 1.  He called it his “Justice Agenda” and likened it to a Declaration of Independence for New York.

His agenda includes making the state property-tax cap law permanent. It is set to expire in 2020. He also wants to extend a higher tax on the state’s top earners, something that is a consistent topic of debate at the Capitol.

The president also called for bolstering abortion rights, implementing the state DREAM Act, legalizing recreational marijuana, and approving the Child Victims Act – which would extend the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse crimes and open up a one-year window to revive previously timed-out claims.

In addition, Cuomo vowed to pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act – Also known as GENDA – which would provide protections for those who are transgender and add gender identity to the state’s hate crime and human rights laws. And he also vowed to put a legal end to conversion therapy in New York.

And with Democrats in control of both legislative chambers, Cuomo has vowed to bolster the state’s gun-control laws. Specifically, Cuomo has pointed to three different measures he’d like to see become law. One would officially ban bump stocks, the second would expand the wait period for gun-seekers flagged by the national background check database, and the third bill, known as the Red Flag Bill, would allow family members or school officials to petition a judge to block someone from owning a gun if the person is deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.

The governor also said he will push to enact reforms in the state’s criminal-justice system – starting with ending cash bail, saying it discriminates against lower-income defendants.

And Cuomo said he’s going to push for a number of reforms to make it easier to vote in New York, including making Election Day a state holiday.

Cuomo also vowed to push for automatic voter registration, early and mail-in voting and aligning the state and federal primaries, which are currently held on different days.

The agenda comes in advance of the governor working for the first time with a fully Democrat-controlled Legislature, following the Republicans losing control of the State Senate following the 2018 General Election.

A couple of local officials commented on the governor’s progressive agenda.

Former Jamestown City Council President and current Chair of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Gregory Rabb said that he was particularly pleased to see GENDA and the end of conversion therapy on the governor’s list of priorities.  Rabb – who was the first openly gay elected official in upstate New York – said he’s spent a good part of his advocating for the LGBTQ community and as he approaches retirement, he said it’s exciting to see the Governor’s commitment to the cause of human rights for all residents in the State.

Chautauqua County Democratic Election Commissioner Norman Green also provided a statement on the Governor’s Agenda, saying he’s in full support of reforming New York’s antiquated election laws that are disenfranchising voters.