Pass Tougher Cop-Killing Laws
by john toscano

The announcement on the two bills was made by the governor and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, at left, and state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, at right.

In the wake of the killings of two New York City police officers, Governor George Pataki and legislative leaders acted with uncharacteristic speed to stiffen gun control laws and enact legislation intended to curb violence against police officers.

The announcement on the two bills was made by the governor and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

The governor stated: “I am very pleased that we have come to an agreement on these two critical and common-sense crime-fighting proposals that will further safeguard the brave men and women who wake up each morning and protect our children and families, and make our streets safer.

“As of today, we will be able to give our law enforcement officials the tools they need to get more illegal guns off the streets and ensure that those who injure or kill our police officers face much tougher penalties.”

Silver, leader of Assembly Democrats, said the agreement reached is “an important step in our effort to help protect those who are sworn to protect us.”

But, he added, “It is only a first step and our work is not finished. The Assembly will again advance early next year a comprehensive package of bills to bring to bear our strongest efforts to stop the gun violence that has taken the lives of some 7,000 New Yorkers since 1999.”

Bruno, Silver’s Republican counterpart in the senate, said the legislation is “a victory for all the law-abiding people of New York, and the police who put their lives on the line every day to protect us.”

Bruno continued, “Putting stronger penalties in place to correct the inadequacies of the existing law so we can arrest and punish criminals who sell and possess illegal firearms and to increase penalties for criminals who attack police officers is absolutely the right thing to do.”

Both houses of the legislature passed the bills on Wednesday. The governor signed them into law later in the day.

It was reported that the stalemate over the issue between the Republican governor and the Democratic Speaker was broken when Pataki dropped his demand for a death penalty and Silver dropped provisions in the law that dealt with legal retail gun sales.

Both sides stopped bickering after two police officers were slain in the line of duty.

The new laws will significantly increase sentences for illegal gun trafficking and make convicting persons who sell guns used in felony crimes easier by increasing penalties by as much as 25 years.

The new laws, collectively called the Crimes Against Police Act, hike penalties for those who injure or kill police officers.

The new law will strengthen existing laws by:

•Reducing from 20 to three the number of firearms required to be possessed for the Class D violent felony offense;

•Creating a new Class C violent felony offense for illegal possession of five or more firearms (carrying a determinate sentence of at least three and one-half years and up to 15 years), and

•Creating a new Class B violent felony offense for the illegal possession of 10 or more firearms, carrying a determinate sentence of at least five years, or up to 25 years.

In addition, the new law closes a loophole which allows gun traffickers to evade strict felony penalties for multiple illegal firearm sales by intentionally restricting the number of firearms sold in a single transaction.

The new law does this by augmenting the single transaction standard with a one-year rule.

For example, under current law, a gun trafficker who illegally sells one gun each month over the course of a year could be charged only with a non-violent D felony for each of those transactions. Under the new law, the traffickers would be charged with a Class B violent felony offense.

Pataki also credited the New York Daily News for its “Stop Crimes Against Cops” campaign, which he said was “unbelievably important” for providing the momentum for the legislature to act.

Bruno admitted afterward he had wanted the death penalty in the new law, but backed down as part of the bargaining to get the laws passed. He stated, “Life without parole is a lot better than where we are now in terms of punishment.”

Silver was adamantly opposed to the death penalty and said the Assembly was ready to ban cop-killing or body-armor-piercing bullets, but couldn’t get the Senate to agree to go along with his branch of the legislature.

To help implement the mayor’s new law cracking down on cop attackers and gun trafficking, Governor Pataki has turned loose 100 state police officers to go after illegal firearms peddlers.

The governor’s announcement of the detective assignments said they will work with the New York Police Department, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and other agencies in tracking down gun runners who are putting guns in the hands of criminals who in turn are shooting cops.

In releasing $4.5 million to the state police to fund the new program, Pataki said: “The shocking murders of two NYPD officers over the past few weeks have reminded us of the devastation that gun violence can have on our communities.”