New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks to students in a computer science class at East Syracuse Minoa Central High School in Manlius on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Rick Moriarty)
Manlius, N.Y. (Tribune News Service) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday called for a national assault rifle ban and “red flag” laws in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Georgia that killed four people.
“We’ve had enough,” Hochul said during a visit to East Syracuse Minoa Central High School. “This nation has seen enough.”
Police said a 14-year-old student opened fire with an “AR-platform-style weapon” at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday, killing two teachers and two students and wounding nine other people.
Such military-style weapons are banned in New York. They were also banned nationwide under a federal law enacted in 1994, but the ban expired in 2004 under a sunset provision. Since then, AR-15-style rifles have been used in some of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings, including the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 children and six staff members.
“You turn on the news and you’re stunned to see yet another school shooting in the United States,” Hochul said.
“It hurts on so many levels. As a parent who for many years who sent my children off to school, I know the inherent anxiety as soon as your children are out of your sight. And then to see these stories where a 14-year-old has access to an assault-style weapon, military-style assault weapon.”
She called out Republicans in Congress for opposing a new assault weapons ban.
“I know the Biden-Harris administration wants to do more,” she said. “I know that the Senate led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants to do more, and I’m calling on the Republican-led House of Representatives to stop putting up roadblocks to saving children’s lives.”
Hochul also called for a national “red flag” law like the one in New York. The state’s law, also known as the Extreme Risk Protection Order law, prevents individuals who show signs of being a threat to themselves or others from purchasing or possessing any kind of firearm.
“That should be a national policy,” she said.
©2024 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit syracuse.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
