NY joins interstate task force to fight gun trafficking
Illegal gun task force holds first meeting
New York's new illegal gun task force held its first meeting Wednesday, the same day news broke of a huge bust involving a college student accused of trafficking weapons into New York.
NEW YORK - Leaders from New York and 8 other states joined together on Wednesday for the first-ever multi-state gun intelligence consortium, marking a massive joint effort to get ahead of this gun violence crisis that is plaguing large cities across the country.
"This has not happened before," Governor Kathy Hochul said addressing reporters before the task force gathered. "We have in the next room 50 individuals in person and on Zoom joining together in the common pursuit of stopping the guns from flowing into New York, ending up in the hands of criminals.
According to Governor Hochul, there has been an 80% increase in firearm homicides here in New York since 2019 and 75% of the guns that committed those crimes came from out of state.
That rise in gun violence is being felt in New York City, where a wave of shootings have occurred over the past few weeks and an illegal gun was just used to kill two NYPD officers.
Mayor Eric Adams on gun violence in NYC
FOX 5 NY spoke with New York City Mayor Eric Adams about the new task force that is aiming to stop the flow of illegal firearms and his plan to stop the bloodshed on the city's streets.
Governor Kathy Hochul says that she will be extending the gun violence state of emergency that was put in place last summer and will be embedding the Office of Gun Violence Prevention into the Department of Health in order to tackle all aspects of gun violence.
This new Interstate Task Force on Illegal Guns has been charged with identifying how weapons are being trafficked across state lines and from which states.
"There’s a phenomenon going on here that we’re going to study and understand why this is the case, that as we enter 2022 we are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of guns finding their way through our borders and into the hands of criminals," Hochul said.
Also on Wednesday, the NYPD and Bronx District Attorney announced that a 23-year-old college student has been arrested for allegedly trying to sell 73 firearms and high capacity magazines to an undercover officer.
RELATED: College student sold 73 guns to undercover officer: Bronx DA
According to the NYPD, the suspect, Shakor Rodriguez, allegedly brought these weapons up from the south, but an investigation is still continuing into how and where these guns were purchased.
Rodriguez, who is originally from the Bronx, was attending Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee.
He is being charged in two indictments totaling 304 counts. He was arraigned on January 24 on 79 counts, including Criminal Sale of a Firearm, Criminal Possession of a Weapon, Criminal Possession of a Firearm, and Possession of Ammunition. He was remanded and is now due back in court January 31.
Mayor Eric Adams today at this Task Force meeting, continued his call for a multi-faceted approach to tackling this surge in gun violence.
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"The police officers in this city and state, they are doing their job," Mayor Adams said. "We removed 6,000 guns off the streets of New York City in 2021 and over 300 guns were removed during my first few weeks in office. But they can't do this alone."
Mayor Adams continued, "Our entire country mobilized against COVID -19 and made sure that it did not continue to spread throughout the entire state and country. That's the same energy, that's the same level of intelligence that we must use to end the pandemic of gunfire."
Next Thursday, February 3rd, President Joe Biden will be flying to New York City to meet with Mayor Eric Adams to discuss a comprehensive strategy to combat gun crime.