Albany Toughens Gun Trafficking, ‘Cop Killer’ Laws
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State lawmakers and Governor Pataki, acting in the wake of the recent shooting deaths of two New York City police officers, agreed on two bills yesterday that would strengthen gun control laws and increase penalties for violence against police officers.
In the end, Mr. Pataki dropped his proposal to include death as a possible punishment for killing a police officer, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver dropped provisions that would have addressed legal retail gun sales.
Both houses of the Legislature passed the legislation and Mr. Pataki vowed to sign it by day’s end.
Mr. Pataki, a Republican, last week called for the special legislative session after police officers Dillon Stewart and Daniel Enchautegui, died in separate shootings since Thanksgiving.
“Too many times we’ve seen those who put on the uniform lose their lives protecting our freedom. We owe it to them, we owe it to their families and we owe it to the state of New York to do everything we can to protect them,” Mr. Pataki said.
The bills will significantly increase the penalties for illegal gun trafficking and make it easier to convict those who sell illegal guns of felony crimes carrying sentences of up to 25 years.
The Crimes Against Police Act increases penalties for those who injure or kill police officers. Mr. Pataki and fellow Republicans sought to include capital punishment as an option for killers of police but dropped that provision to win the bill’s approval in the Democrat-led Assembly. Otherwise the measures were little changed from those first pushed by the governor.
“We feel we should have the death penalty,” the Republican Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, said. “It was in our bill, it was in the governor’s bill, but we couldn’t get it through the Assembly …We are getting a result, and life without parole is a lot better than where we are now in terms of punishment.”
Current law allows for a sentence of life, with a minimum of 20 to 25 years in prison.
Mr. Silver last week said he supported the bills favored by Mr. Pataki, but also wanted to include “more comprehensive” measures, including more stringent requirements on gun dealers.