NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday issued an executive order declaring a “disaster emergency on gun violence” in New York state.
At least 51 people were shot across the state over Fourth of July weekend, including 26 in New York City, Cuomo said at a news briefing Tuesday afternoon.
The emergency declaration will allow the state to treat gun violence like a "public health crisis," he explained.
“It is a statewide problem, and it is an emergency,” the governor said. “And I want the people of the state to understand that.”
“Today, first state in the nation, [New York] is going to declare a disaster emergency on gun violence,” he added.
As part of the declaration, the state will create an “Office of Gun Violence Prevention” within its health department, Cuomo said. The state’s largest police departments will be required to submit “incident-level data” on shootings to the new office, he explained.
The state will also shell out $57.5 million to create more than 21,000 jobs to “engage at-risk youth,” with New York state set to pay “100% of the salary,” he said.
A new “Gun Trafficking Intervention Unit” housed within the New York State Police department, meanwhile, will work to keep traffickers from bringing illegal guns into the state.
“We announced, today, a border war,” Cuomo said. “And the border war is, we’re going to stop guns from coming in through our borders and into our cities.”