Mayor Adams touts recent gun siezures in NYC, Republicans protest bail reform at City Hall
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The murder of two NYPD officers is sparking renewed calls for overturning bail reforms enacted two years ago and cracking down on guns.
On Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul will meet with new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has come under criticism for some of his reform proposals. And it comes as Republican state lawmakers are blasting Democrats for what they say is causing the rise in crime.
Mayor Eric Adams, however, says change is coming, and New York City and New York state are working together in an effort to combat the rise in gun violence.
Recent arrest include a 17-year-old led away in handcuffs after a rider spotted him in the Times Square subway station waving a gun at three in the middle of the afternoon. Police confiscated this semi-automatic handgun, fully-loaded.
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Additionally, among the passengers arriving at the Port Authority Bus Terminal Wednesday was a 20-year-old man from Atlanta with a gun.
"Many of these guns are coming through the Greyhound," Adams said. "We have been talking about doing spot checks there, so important."
What's more, officers in the Bronx seized 73 guns, some of them assault-style weapons with large ammunition clips after an undercover sting operation targeted a 17-year-old college student.
Prosecutors say he routinely carried them to New York onboard buses from Tennessee and would later sell them to undercover officers.
The onslaught of violent crime in New York has also reinvigorated the debate over criminal justice, and on Thursday, Republican lawmakers demanded the state's bail reform laws be rolled back.
They say judges should have the power to impose bail in far more cases than they do, and that prosecutors aren't being tough enough.
"For those situations, those individuals we know are going to cause a problem, let's have judicial discretion," City Councilman Joseph Borelli said.
Speaking on Eyewitness News Up Close to air on Sunday, Adams said critics of bail reform have a point.
"We have to reform a broken system, and what I am saying to them is there are parts that we need to tweak," he said. "Dangerousness is crucial."
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Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark believes there is room for compromise in Albany.
"You have to look back, and sometimes you have to agree, 'You know what? We did this wrong or we didn't do it wrong, but it needs to be fixed so that it could be better,'" she said. "And I think that we have a smart legislature that will be able to understand that they need to sit down and listen to reason, and listen to all sides, and then be big enough to know that some adjustments may need to be made and that I think they will do it."
The White House said that on Thursday, February 3, President Joe Biden will travel to New York City and join Adams to discuss the Administration's comprehensive strategy to combat gun crime.
"I look forward to welcoming President Biden to New York City next week and sitting down to discuss how we can work collaboratively to end the scourge of gun violence we are seeing on New York City streets," Adams said. "The sea of violence comes from many rivers, and that's why my Blueprint to End Gun Violence in New York City seeks to dam every river that feeds this greater crisis. Public safety is my administration's highest priority, and we welcome the opportunity to display to President Biden how federal and local governments can coordinate and support each other in this fight to keep New Yorkers safe."
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