Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to reintroduce federal gun trafficking legislation
Elizabeth Billman | Senior Staff Photographer
The bill would establish trafficking guns across state lines as a federal crime and provide tools for law enforcement and prosecution. There is no current federal law defining gun trafficking across state lines as a crime.
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said she would reintroduce federal gun trafficking legislation at the Seals Community Center at Kirk Park in Syracuse on Friday.
The bill, called the Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking and Crime Prevention Act, was initially introduced in 2019. It received 58 of the 60 votes needed in Congress to move ahead, WSKG reported.
The bill would establish trafficking guns across state lines as a federal crime and provide tools for law enforcement and prosecution, Gillibrand’s 2019 announcement said. There is no current federal law defining gun trafficking across state lines as a crime, the announcement said.
Helen Hudson, the president of the Syracuse Common Council, said at the press conference that she has lost 500 neighbors to gun violence in the past 25 years. She said that the “Iron Pipeline” of illegal gun transportation into New York makes it difficult for the state’s “tough” laws to be effective.
Nearly 75% of guns in New York State connected to a crime are trafficked from out of state, many along the Iron Pipeline up I-95. At the City of Light Church in Elmira today, I announced I’m reintroducing my bill to make gun trafficking a federal crime. pic.twitter.com/Hj3fjph2Hw
— Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (@gillibrandny) September 24, 2021
The bill would give law enforcement the tools to go after arms dealers acting illegally and then bringing weapons into New York state, Gillibrand said. Criminals running a trafficking ring can be prosecuted up to 25 years in prison, she said.
Gillibrand was confident that the bill would get the bipartisan support necessary to reach the required threshold of votes this time.
“I am just hopeful as soon as we finish efforts to (rebuild) the economy and recover from COVID, that we can start doing some of these important pieces of legislation that can garner 60 votes,” she said. “And if it can’t, I believe we should amend the filibuster.”
Published on September 27, 2021 at 9:05 pm
Contact Richard: rcperrin@syr.edu | @richardperrins2
