With the country still reeling from the apparent assassination attempt of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, which left six dead and many others injured, outside a Tucson, AZ supermarket, New York politicians have been speaking out about gun laws. Rep. Peter King (R-LI) announced that he would introduce a gun safety bill that would prohibit people from carrying a gun within a 1000 feet of the President, Vice President, members of Congress, and federal judges, "It is imperative that we do all that we can to give law enforcement the tools they need to ensure the safety of New Yorkers and prevent an attack before it happens."
King appeared with Mayor Bloomberg and other lawmakers and notable advocates against illegal guns, such as former NYPD detective Steven McDonald who was shot and paralyzed in 1986 and Tatiana Timoshenko, whose NYPD officer son was fatally killed during a traffic stop, at City Hall, and Bloomberg said of the Tucson shooting "Just as we saw after Virginia Tech, the Arizona tragedy has once again exposed fatal cracks in our background check system. The law says that drug abusers can't buy guns, but even though Jared Loughner was rejected by the military for drug use and arrested on drug charges, he was able to pass a background check and buy a gun. It should be clear to everyone that the system is broken and it is time for our leaders in Washington to step up and fix it."
Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group that Bloomberg leads, has a 40 steps to crack down on illegal guns, and also recommends these "common-sense steps:
1. Fix the Background Check Gaps - Jared Loughner was a drug abuser, and should have been barred under Federal law from purchasing and possessing firearms. Nonetheless, on November 30, 2010, he bought a gun from a gun dealer in Tucson. Because of inadequate resources, insufficient regulations, and inconsistent administration, the existing federal National Instant Check System (NICS) fails regularly, omitting records of those who are supposed to be prohibited from possessing guns. It must be revamped, and records on drug abusers must be kept in the background check system for five years. Furthermore, the NICS Improvement Act passed in the wake of Virginia Tech must finally receive full funding.
2. Share Information and Connect the Dots - Although the United States military had previously identified Jared Loughner as a drug abuser, there was no protocol in place to alert the FBI and put that information into the gun background check database. At Fort Hood, the same problem existed in the other direction; the FBI had identified an army captain as a terrorist suspect but did not tell the military before he shot and killed 13 people. President Obama or the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives can establish a protocol to ensure that every federal agency promptly informs FBI of known drug abusers who belong in the FBI’s gun background check system.
3. Fill the Leadership Gap and Appoint an ATF Director - The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, the federal law enforcement agency responsible for fighting gun crime, has operated without a Director for four and a half years. President Obama has nominated Andrew Traver, a career law enforcement officer, to fill the position. The nomination has the strong support of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and the Senate should give Mr. Traver a careful and prompt review to help ATF spearhead the fight against gun crime.
