New York State has increased its efforts to get illegal guns off the streets and out of the hands of potential criminals. At the second meeting of the Intra-State Gun Tracing Consortium at the New York State Intelligence Center in East Greenbush, Governor Kathy Hochul provided an update on how many guns have been taken off the streets. Since January, thousands of illegal guns have been seized, including 'ghost guns,' which according to the Brady Untied organization are preferred by those with criminal motives, since they are virtually untraceable,

Ghost guns are unserialized and untraceable firearms that can be bought online and assembled at home. They are often sold through "ghost gun kits," which include all of the parts and often the equipment necessary to build these weapons at home. These kits are widely available and can be purchased by anyone, including prohibited purchasers, domestic abusers, and gun traffickers — without a background check.

 

Police in New York State have seized 250 ghost guns

State police have increased their illegal gun seizures by 60 percent each month since January 2022, which is when the Interstate Task Force on Illegal Guns was created.

Gov. Hochul's office says she is working on two new pieces of gun legislation,

The first would set forth a process to require semiautomatic pistols manufactured or delivered to licensed dealers in New York to be microstamping-enabled. The second piece of legislation would strengthen gun reporting protocols by requiring all law enforcement agencies to report the recovery of any crime gun within 24 hours of their discovery.

Get our free mobile app