(Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY) Brooklyn attorney and State Senate candidate Andrew Gounardes called out his opponent, Senator Marty Golden, for what he called a "complete failure to pass common sense gun laws." Gounardes stands with Governor Cuomo's and Mayor Bloomberg's recent statements calling for stricter gun laws, "Both the Governor and the Mayor get it. The public gets it. Why is it that Marty Golden doesn't get it? We need do something about guns and it's shameful how Marty Golden and the Republican leadership in the State Senate put the gun lobby and the NRA ahead of the people of New York."
Gounardes continued, "Marty Golden needs to stand up and voice his support for critical legislation designed to keep our streets safe. Instead, when it's time to deliver Marty is nowhere to be found. Brooklyn deserves better."
Specifically, Gounardes pointed to two recent pieces of legislation that would have helped take illegal guns off the street but never made it through the State Senate.
The first, a microstamping bill supported by Cuomo, Bloomberg and more than 80 law enforcement agencies in New York State, failed to come to a vote in the Senate in 2010 after Golden inexplicably left the room to take a phone call. A similar bill introduced this year never reached the floor. Microstamping is a process by which bullet casings are imprinted with the make, model, and serial number of the gun from which they were fired. Even if a weapon is never located, law enforcement could use this information to trace and identify suspects.
The second bill, introduced by State Senator Jose Peralta of Queens, would give judges the power to seize firearms and permits from people involuntarily committed to a mental health institution or program, or who plead insanity to obtain acquittals in crimes.