By: Jon Campbell, Albany Bureau
ALBANY – Charges levied under the SAFE Act – the state gun-control law considered by some to be the toughest in the nation – are on the rise.
State data analyzed by Gannett’s Albany Bureau shows there have been 7,442 arrests and arraignments under the SAFE Act through Jan. 21.
And there’s been a steady increase of charges brought each year: 1,552 came in 2013 (before the law fully took effect), 2,641 were in 2014 and 3,084 were in 2015.
But a closer look at the statistics shows a series of trends:
- The vast majority of the SAFE Act cases were in New York City. Of the total, 6,036 – 81 percent – were in the city, with 338 on Long Island and 1,068 in the entire rest of the state, according to the data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
- Most of the charges brought were already crimes before the SAFE Act took effect. Eighty-four percent of the cases were possession charges that would have been misdemeanors prior to 2013 but were elevated to a felony under the SAFE Act.
- Enforcement varies widely among different areas of the state. In New York City, there was one SAFE Act arrest or arraignment for every 1,407 residents. In the rest of the state, the rate was one case for every 8,040 residents.
Supporters say the bump in charges show the law is gaining its footing and is having its intended impact of reducing gun violence.
Critics say the opposite: That the data shows many parts of the law are difficult or impossible to enforce and aren’t making the state any safer.
In a statement, Gov. Andrew Cuomo – the law’s primary booster – called the SAFE Act the “strongest gun-safety laws in the nation. The law, he said, proves it is “possible to both respect the Second Amendment and keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill.”
“This latest data shows that not only is the SAFE Act effective – it is also helping to ensure safer communities for all New Yorkers,” Cuomo said.
Debate continues
The SAFE Act -- passed during a late-night session at the Capitol in January 2013 shortly after the Newtown school massacre – made more than a dozen changes or additions to the state’s gun laws. Those included a boost in penalties for illegal gun ownership, an expanded ban on assault weapons and bolstered background-check requirements for ammo and private gun sales.
Its hasty passage spurred an often-heated, polarizing debate on gun control in New York that has spilled into the courts, which threw out a portion of the law that prevented firearms owners from loading more than seven rounds into their 10-round magazines.
The majority of the law has remained intact, however, though some of the charges have been rarely used.
By far the most popular SAFE Act charge levied has been Penal Law 265.01-b(1) -- criminal possession of a firearm, a class E felony generally charged against those who illegally possess an unloaded handgun.
Through Jan. 21, there were 6,104 such felony charges filed -- about 82 percent of the total SAFE Act charges, according to the state data. A total of 5,360 of those were in New York City.
Prior to the SAFE Act, an illegal, unloaded handgun drew a class A misdemeanor charge, which remains on the books. Under the 2013 law, prosecutors and police have the option of levying the felony charge.
Far less used has been the SAFE Act’s new laws governing assault weapons, defined in the law as semi-automatic weapons with a combat-style feature like a telescoping stock or a bayonet.
The law broadened the state’s ban on assault weapons, but allowed owners of since-outlawed rifles to keep their firearm if they register it with the state.
Only 31 people have been charged with possessing an unregistered assault weapon, according to the state data. Eight have been charged with failing to register, a separate charge that took effect in April 2013.
Safer or not?
Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, said the data shows the state’s pre-SAFE Act gun laws were “more than adequate.”
He pointed to the fact that the majority of SAFE Act charges have been for offenses that were crimes long before the law took effect.
“There is nothing that the state of New York has done in the SAFE Act that will make anybody in the state any safer,” said King, a National Rifle Association board member. “The laws that were on the books prior to it were more than adequate to keep guns out of the hands of criminals as long as the district attorneys and the police forces of New York state wanted to pursue enforcing those laws.”
Some Republicans in the state Legislature have supported efforts to repeal the SAFE Act, but they haven’t gotten far. Democrats control a majority of more than 2-to-1 in the Assembly, and Cuomo would have to sign off on any repeal.
Gun-control advocates said the data is indicative of many major new laws, which often take time before enforcement ramps up and law-enforcement officials become more familiar with the changes.
Leah Gunn Barrett, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, said her organization believes the statistics show the SAFE Act is being enforced uniformly, despite some of the charges being rarely used.
“You’re not going to have the State Police going door to door seeing if you have an AR-15 and if it’s registered,” Barrett said. “I don’t know, maybe that will start to happen, particularly if there’s a massacre using one of these weapons in the state.”
Barrett said she believes charges will continue to rise as the years go on.
”You always sort of go through a learning curve with a new law,” she said.
Regions of NY
The SAFE Act charges vary widely from county to county.
The Bronx has the highest rate of SAFE Act arrests and arraignments: one in every 677 residents, according to the state data and the most recent Census estimates.
North of the city, some rural, less-populated counties have seen hardly any: Chemung County, for example, has seen just two SAFE Act charges, or one for every 43,885 residents.
Counties housing some of the state’s larger cities fall somewhere in between. Westchester County, home of Yonkers, had 54 charges, or one for every 18,012 residents. Monroe County, which includes Rochester, had 116 charges, or one for every 6,464 residents.
Chemung County Sheriff Christopher Moss, an outspoken critic of the SAFE Act, said the charges in the SAFE Act are “not high on the priority list.”
Weapon owners in upstate New York “generally know how to use them and for the most part use them responsibly,” said Moss, who was the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in 2014.
“We’re just not seeing a lot of violations here,” Moss said. “Granted, we’re not out actively looking for them either. But if somebody violates the law and we know it, obviously we have to investigate it. We just don’t see that happening in upstate New York or in Chemung County.”
Daniel Feldman, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, said the variation among counties stands to reason and tends to mirror the public support – or lack thereof – for firearms and gun control in the different regions of the state.
A prosecutor in New York City or other cities where gun violence is a prevalent issue will likely be more willing to actively prosecute gun crimes, Feldman said. In rural counties where support for gun control is lower, prosecutors may be less likely to aggressively use the law.
“Prosecutorial discretion is a deep-seated precedent,” said Feldman, a former state assemblyman. “So the local culture will have an impact. In areas in which people’s attitudes toward guns is that everybody ought to have one, then the local prosecutor probably shares the public’s point of view – they’re elected locally.”
Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe, a Democrat who is president of the state District Attorneys Association, said he personally supports the SAFE Act, calling it a “positive step forward” that the total number of arrests and arraignments is increasing.
But the law hasn’t had much of a presence in Rockland: There have only been 11 SAFE Act charges, or one for every 29,442 residents.
“We don’t have a major gun issue here in Rockland County,” Zugibe said. “But I happen to believe that the SAFE Act is very progressive and needed. The problem is it isn’t a national program. We don’t have a wall around New York state keeping us safe.”
Findings
-Since the SAFE Act was passed in 2013, there have been 7, 442 arrests and arraignments under the law as of Jan. 21. The numbers are on the rise: There were 2,641 cases in 2014 and 3,084 in 2015.
- Of the total, 6,036 of the charges – 81 percent – were in New York City. There were 338 on Long Island and 1,068 in the entire rest of the state, according to the data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
- 84 percent of the total charges were possession charges that would have been misdemeanors prior to 2013 but were elevated to a felony under the SAFE Act.
- In New York City, there was one SAFE Act arrest or arraignment for every 1,407 residents. In the rest of the state, the rate was one case for every 8,040 residents.
Analysis based on data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.