NEW YORK—Guns are the primary weapon used in homicides in the city, killing approximately 200 men between the ages of 18 and 34 every year—the group most affected by gun violence and among whom the highest homicide rate exists, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene report from June.
The NYPD Coalition to Reduce Violent Crime and Brooklyn Clergy teamed up in a Cash for Guns campaign on Saturday. Gun owners had the opportunity to turn in their working guns in exchange for ATM cards worth $200 for handguns or $20 for rifles. The deal came with no questions asked and complete anonymity.
Officer Michael Debonis reported that “174 total [guns] were taken off the street” during the event. These included 70 semi-automatic pistols, 72 revolvers, 19 rifles, five shotguns, one sawed-off shotgun, and an assortment of zip guns.
Since the campaign’s inception in 2008, over 6,000 guns have been collected in nine buyback operations at various churches across the city. People can also drop off their working handguns at their local police precinct anytime for $100. Informants calling 1-866-Gun-Stop can earn an award of $1,000 if their tip leads to an arrest for criminal gun possession.
NYPD sets up Cash for Guns sites in areas with the high rates of gun violence, explained Lt. John Dzwlewicz of the NYPD Community Affairs. In 2008, 744 guns were collected in Harlem. In February 2009, 919 guns were collected in South Queens, and in April 2009, 987 guns were collected in the Bronx.
New York City Takes Lead
“New York City has not only enacted some of the strongest gun laws in the U.S., it has also been proactive in investigating and combating illegal gun trafficking nationally,” states the 2010 Legal Community Against Violence (LCAV) report.
New York City officials initiated an undercover investigation into illegal sales at gun shows across the nation, which revealed that “63 percent of private sellers approached by investigators sold a gun to a purchaser who said he or she probably could not pass a background check.”
Based on their findings, officials who conducted this investigation have made recommendations for increased regulations at gun shows, which are a hotbed for illegal gun sales.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is one of the founders of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which was formed in 2006. This national coalition, comprised of over 500 U.S. legislators, works to stop illegal gun trafficking.
New York state has the fifth lowest firearm death rate in the country, according to the Firearm and Injury Center at University of Pennsylvania. The other states with the lowest rates include Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The five states with the highest firearm death rates include Louisiana, Alaska, Nevada, Mississippi, and Alabama.
“The decline of crime in New York is the number one issue in the last 20 years,” said Kenneth T. Jackson, professor of history and social sciences at Columbia University, while discussing his new edition of the Encyclopedia of New York City in the Lower East Side last week.
Jackson said that once criminal possession of a gun was declared a felony, gun violence in the city dramatically decreased. People began leaving their guns at home. In a heated argument, someone who might otherwise pull out a gun and shoot now has a cooling-down period, because they would have to go home to get their gun and then seek out their potential victim, said the professor.
Homicides among men aged 18 to 34 in New York City dropped from 1,126 in 1990 to an average of 260 annually between 2006 and 2008, according to a 2010 Department of Health and Mental Hygiene report.
The rate of death due to homicide is dramatically higher among African Americans, states the report. Young African American men are three times as likely to fall victim to homicide as Hispanic men and 12 times more likely than Caucasian men.
Although New York boasts a low incidence of deaths by firearms when compared to national averages and homicides have dramatically decreased when compared to decades past, gun violence continues to plague some areas of the city. The NYPD hopes to make these neighborhoods safer with campaigns such as Cash for Guns.
