CityAndStateNY.com
More of the same Public defenders urged the state Legislature to take a new approach to gun laws – and they were ignored. By Peter Sterne
June 27 - July 4, 2022
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N JUNE 23, the day that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down New York state’s strict gun control laws in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, a coalition of public defender organizations released a joint statement calling on the state Legislature to craft new gun laws that would avoid the mistakes of the old ones. “Gun regulation need not mean funneling low-income Black and brown people into the criminal legal system,” read the statement signed by The Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, Black Attorneys of Legal Aid and a handful of upstate county public defender organizations. “Today, we call on the Legislature to design new gun regulations that are rooted in equity, not racism and to address the mass criminalization and incarceration of people of color for unlicensed gun possession. We look forward to working with the Legislature to chart a new course in addressing gun violence – one that does not perpetuate racial discrimination and harm.” The Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul did respond with sweeping new gun control legislation that was signed into law. However, it wasn’t what some public defenders and others were hoping for, prompting private complaints that the new laws did not respond to old concerns and would fuel mass incarceration. The public defender groups had previously submitted an amicus brief to the court showing how the state’s century-old gun control law had led to the disproportionate incarceration of people of color. Once the law had been ruled unconstitutional, the public defenders hoped that the Legislature could craft a better law. Following the court’s decision, Hochul called an extraordinary legislative session and the Legislature passed a new gun control bill. The bill changed the criteria for police to consider when granting concealed carry gun licenses. Previously, license applicants needed a “letter of good cause” showing a specific reason why they required a hidden gun. Now, applicants must demonstrate “good moral character” and complete firearms safety training. The bill passed largely along party lines, with only eight Democrats – all Assembly members representing upstate districts – voting against it. Officially, the public defender groups have not taken a position on the new gun control laws. But privately, some defenders and criminal justice reform advocates said the new gun laws had the same problems as the old ones. M.K. Kaishian, a civil rights attorney who worked at Brooklyn Defender Services until leaving in January to start her own private
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other representatives stand with pictures of shooting victims from Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas.
practice, told City & State that the new gun control law doubles down on the state’s current arrest-based approach to gun regulation. “Instead of going after manufacturers, all those other sort of top-level issues, continuing to focus on individual possession cases where the police are in charge of that enforcement just ensures that we’re going to continue to see the over-criminalization of Black and brown New Yorkers,” she said. “It’s just more of the same.” Kaishian said the state’s gun control strategy was focused on making it next to impossible to get a gun license and then arresting as many people as possible for unlicensed gun possession. Like the old war on drugs campaign, this arrest-based approach to gun control disproportionately affected nonwhite people who lived in the most heavily-policed neighborhoods. “Here in New York City, we have a pretrial jail population on a top charge of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree – which is possession of a gun without any requirement that it’s brandished, fired or otherwise used in a crime – and that population that is facing that as a top charge at Rikers Island and other city jails is 96 to 97% nonwhite, at least,” she said. According to Kaishian, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 3 and 1/2 years in prison and is considered a violent felony that is eligible for bail. The result is that people who are stopped and frisked by the New York City Police Department (most likely a disproportionate number of Black and brown men) and
ANGELA WEISS/AFP, CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
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