WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. From DelBello, Donnellan, Weingarten, Wise & Wiederkehr. January 20, 2013:

DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Weiderkehr, LLP (DDWWW), Westchester’s leading general practice law firm, has announced the firm’s merger with one of the top boutique bankruptcy law firms in the Metropolitan area, Rattet Pasternak LLP.  Rattet Pasternak’s six attorneys have become the Bankruptcy Practice Group of DDWWW.

Pictured at White Plains office, from left, Mark Weingarten, Alfred DelBello, Robert Rattet, Dawn Kirby, Jonathan Pasternak and Alfred Donnellan.

The merger is the latest expansion of DDWWW, a leading law firm in Westchester and the Hudson Valley. With the merger, the firm now has 10 practice groups with 31 attorneys, including 15 litigators. DDWWW is well regarded for its real estate practice including land use and zoning and related environmental reviews, complex real estate transactions and financing, and property tax certiorari proceedings. Other areas of practice include banking, commercial finance, commercial litigation, corporate law, government relations and economic development, personal injury law and matrimonial and family law.

Rattet Pasternak’s practice includes all aspects of bankruptcy and insolvency law for businesses and individuals. The firm assists clients in Chapter 11, Chapter 13 and Chapter 7 cases throughout New York City, Long Island, Westchester County and the lower Hudson Valley. The firm also represents clients in bankruptcy litigation, shareholder disputes, preference actions, fraudulent conveyance actions, creditor claim enforcement and distressed asset acquisitions. A boutique law firm, Rattet Pasternak specializes in serving small and mid-sized businesses in a wide range of industries.

The addition of a bankruptcy practice is a natural expansion for DDWWW, said Alfred Donnellan, Managing Partner and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. “We have grown steadily to enhance our overall strength and ability to efficiently serve our clients. Having our own bankruptcy practice is an important step forward and complements our existing areas of practice.”

Mr. Donnellan added: “Rattet Pasternak is a well-respected firm that has been in Westchester for 23 years and practices throughout the New York Metropolitan area. They are well known for working with businesses and individuals. There is synergy between our firms, which is important to the success of any merger. This is a good opportunity for both of our firms and we are happy to have them on our team.”

Jonathan Pasternak, Managing Partner of Rattet Pasternak, said the merger provides opportunities for both firms. “Our areas of expertise, including bankruptcy as well as mergers and acquisitions and construction mediation, fit well within DDWWW’s practice areas and add meaningfully to the scope of what the firm can offer. They are one of the most dynamic firms in the region and have expanded in a measured, steady way. We are very pleased to be joining a team of top attorneys,” he said.

Mr. Pasternak, who is a member of numerous national and regional bankruptcy and commercial law associations, has lectured on bankruptcy before various professional associations throughout the region. He has been frequently quoted in Crain’s, The Deal and other industry publications and newspapers on various bankruptcy and related issues. He has also been interviewed on CNN and Bloomberg Radio.

Founding partner Robert Rattet has been practicing in the fields of bankruptcy and insolvency law for business and real estate enterprises since he started his own law firm in 1975. Mr. Rattet’s practice mainly involves Chapter 11 reorganizations, out-of-court workouts, and related litigation. He has been involved in several prominent national and local cases representing corporations and individuals in a wide range of industries, including but not limited to the construction, real estate development, waste disposal, and restaurant industries.

Other attorneys at Rattet Pasternak joining DDWWW are Partner Dawn Kirby, Partner Julie Cvek, Partner Erica Feynman, and Senior Litigation Counsel James Glucksman. 

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WPCNR THE BIG EXTRA. News & Comment by John F. Bailey. January 15, 2015:

I wrote this column eleven years ago in 2004. It still stands relevant today, Even more so.

What fascinates me about this column, which I update every year is how little conditions have changed since I wrote it nine years ago.

That fills me with a great melancholy.

Monday morning at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains at 8 AM, the man, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is being remembered. It is still not sold out and they are extending the deadline

Heather Miller of the Slater Center writes today:

George Washington stands for honesty. 

Abraham Lincoln for freedom

Columbus for discovery,

Dr. King’s name stands for Opportunity.

Let me add to that fairness. Compassion. A willingness to help and recognize wrong.

What would he say if he addressed the group at the Crowne Plaza Monday?

About foreclosures, shamefully low passing grades on achievement tests for persons of color and who do not speak English well,6% unemployment in a “growing” economy? Millions of youths without jobs, and robber baron bankers paying dividends to shareholders made possible by the taxpayers, and seeking to junk the regulations enacted in 2010 in the Dodd-Frank act to stop them from cheating people again? Or the disgrace amendments Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives wrote into the Homeland Security Act that will if passed, ship 600,000 youths out of this country if the Senate does not block it? 

The shameless hatred for not only the first African-American President vilely espoused by politicians, community leaders and commentators who should know better. The fact that 60% of Democrats think it is time for a woman President while only 20% of Republicans think a woman should be President–the party of white men rule strikes again.

Leaders who would be leaders of this country standing for the death penalty; standing for no health care for the uninsured; standing for less regulation of the greediest, most corrupt businesses on earth — banks, finance companies, oil companies and international American corporations who ship jobs overseas and get tax breaks for doing so; tax cuts for millionaires while refusing to vote extension of unemployment benefits and the debt ceiling? Local leaders who hire politically connected cronies to six-figure jobs to do minimal “work.”

You know what he’d say, don’t you? I can hear him now. But I cannot because someone shot him in 1968, since then no African-American or Latino-American or white man or woman has stepped for to fill his voice.

When I think of Dr. King, I think of the Selma marches, I think of Birmingham, I think of Little Rock, Arkansas, where he lead the African-American community in demonstrations asking for the right of equal opportunity in America: a seat on a bus wherever they chose; a restaurant or hotel of their choice; the right to apply for a job without being turned down because you were black. Blatant in-your-face-discrimination was publicized by Dr. King and America was shown it was not right. It took fearlessness to do that.

Who today has that fearlessness that Dr. King and his followers showed all of America? “Leaders” so critical of teachers and education, that they want to help by cutting education aid and expenditures, while at the same time giving giveaways to business. Pay pensions to retired educatiors when they take other full-time jobs in education and do not “fix” things. And business leaders so greedy they ask for refunds on their taxes so they can make even more profit.

Where are the black and Latino and white, yes white leaders and journalists of today who will stand up and point these outrages out?

Are there any?

Dr. King would. That cost him his life.

Today, subtle discrimination denying equal opportunity, denying education, exploiting the poor, foreclosing instead of adjusting, and making settlements with rogue banks that make them even more profitable, and guaranteeing less opportunity are the evils that Dr. King, had he lived, would be attacking today.

When I write those sentences I just wrote, it seems incomprehensible to me that someone would deny another person that.

When you think about it, it is an awful situation to think about. In the 47 years since Dr. King was murdered, the nation has come a long way in breaking down the visible barriers of racism based on creed and the color of one’s skin.

Today, though, the language one speaks and where you are from are the prejudices practiced today. And in the last six years of President  Obama’s presidency the edgy, putting down of Mr. Obama because of the color of his skin is sickening and you hear it every day from white members of congress, from congresspeople from the south. It is disgusting.

But the hate and prejudice are out there–espoused daily on talk shows–and anti-race rhetoric being defended? It confounds me. The rhetoric I have heard from both parties the last six months has turned my stomach.

The education establishment continues to favor the English-speaking, the wealthied, and the well-situated.

The White Plains district is 57% Hispanic students. You need more dual language instruction, not less. You need young enthusiastic, bilingual teachers to step in now, as many as possible. Instead, the brain dead tax cap law that the numbers-challenged New York State legislature put in place is going to force cuts like you will not comprehend and it will come at the expense of the younger teachers.

Dr. King would point his finger at every person in that room Monday and say they should be ashamed for sacrificing the futures of those who have no futures unless we help them.

And you know what? That’s who they do not want to help.

There are too many in Washington D.C. who want to throw them out of the country.

We had a County Executive stand up last year at this time and say we had to drop the mandates for pre-school education. Cut state mandates for health care. Cut pensions. And that county executive increased the amount folks had to pay for day care. The same County Executive who never met a political operative who wasn’t a great addition to the county payroll. (And you know who you are.)

Today the barriers to Equal Opportunity are not subtle any more.

The hate of the poor, the non-English speaking is now fashionable and draws cheers in nationally televised debates.

Last fall we learned just how badly education in New York has overstated education achievement with blacks, Hispanics and whites all being equally unprepared at the 9th grade level with the exception of the students whose parents are deeply involved with their children

Barriers still exist: in the classroom. There is reluctance to deliver quality education to the black and Hispanic populations in America today, just as there was twelve years ago.

The only reason there is a concentrated effort to do so are the state achievement tests which show the shame of our education programs for minorities and whites as well. New York admitted its scores on achievement tests the last 10 years were curved way low — meaning that strides in closing the achievement gap between whites and minorities were not strides at all

What would Dr. Martin Luther King say about that education disgrace if he were speaking at the Crowne Plaza Monday morning?

Plenty.

The horror is that locally many school districts (with the exception of Port Chester) knew the curve was low. They knew it.

Efforts to address the achievement gap were overblown. They lied to thousands of concerned minority parents. They would say they did want to alarm them. But they were simply lying. Telling us they were doing a good job when they were doing a lousy job.

I wrote about this for the last 11 years, but no other media did, 

The press ignored the low standards for passing grades. They did not even bother finding out what they were.

On the other hand, there is the perception elsewhere that because your name and skin color are different, you automatically need help and are slow-tracked into remedial classes; the inclusion of the slower (read minority) children in one corner of a classroom so you can deal with the “problem children”

In the last ten years the products of this subtle but unequal educational opportunity have been well documented and given a name: The Achievement Gap. Well we now know the acheivement gap is now an achievement abyss.

The educational establishment invests millions in studies to find solutions to it and they have learned a lot about it. It takes more School District heads to stand up and say like Dr. King, “we simply are not going to educate half the population any more.”

The lagging of minority youth is blamed on the home and family breakdown. Well then you have to bring more attention to the family unit and those youngsters’ home environment, putting the education in there. It’s expensive but if you want to solve the Achievement Gap you have to do that.

The argument that you have to speak English in the schools and learn through English is racial superiority.

Of course you have to learn to speak English, but really, Bilingual education is how we English-speakers learn another language. Port Chester achieved this — and WPCNR pointed this out to the White Plains School Board years ago. Why is this new? (At last we are finally making progress on this issue, thanks to hiring the woman who designed Port Chester’s program).

It is time to stop the subtle prejudice that we do not want non-English speaking children in our towns and schools because they are too hard to educate and will cost us money to do that. They are children, you simply cannot throw  them away because they do not speak English.

This discrimination Dr. Martin Luther King would find hard to take. Ears would be ringing Monday morning.

 He would bristle at lowering standards for minorities, because he would see right through that argument, saying:

“When are you going to raise the standards for my people? Because you don’t have to work any harder at educating them, if you do not raise your expectations for them.”

I think Dr. King would look around today and appreciate how Blacks and Whites, Hispanics and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Muslims and other races mingle together in today’s America.

But, if he was alive today he would never let the Republican candidates and the Democratic leadership in Washington get away with the prejudiced stereotyping of the hungry, the poor, America’s illegal residents that I have heard the last year

I think he’d observe we are all becoming more appreciative and respectful of each other– again with concern about the confrontation rhetoric

But, I do not think he would like today’s buzz word :”diversity” and our smugness about our diversity.

He would say that’s nice, but let’s keep our eye on the prize, to borrow the wonderful motto of the White Plains Department of Public Safety, let us treat all with integrity, professionalism, respect, and to that add opportunity.

Now, let’s think how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would handle the present illegal housing situation in White Plains

I believe Dr. Martin Luther King would take organizations in this town that circulate lists of rooming houses (without inspecting them for overcrowding), and call them out, if he were in White Plains today.

He’d stand up there tomorrow morning and read list of homes and distribute it personally to the Mayor and say — clean up this disgrace.

He would march through the homes where the overcrowding is and be arrested with plenty of cameras showing the disgrace of the housing the Uriah Heeps of this town have created.

No one does that here.

Dr. King was not only politically incorrect, but politically uncooperative. ThAT’S WHY HE WAS KILLED.

He’d bring the unsafely housed with him to breakfast Monday morning and introduce them all around to the rich and the powerful and the well-connected and show them the people whom they are treating like cruel political pawns by our leaders on the county and the city level – all over this county — just so political contributers are protected.

Maybe he’d bring some Latin Kings and Bloods with him too. That would be interesting.

He’d read off the certiorari refunds given back corporations that do quite well and filed for them anyway.

He’d ask the illegally housed to tell their stories at his breakfast. He’d prey for compassion from us the wealthy, the powerful and the “decent,” and the respectable to have compassion for the weak, the misdirected, the addicted and disturbed, and the mortgage-ravaged.

He’d bring the foreclosees and those forced out of their homes and those whose mortgages were turned down, and ask those bankers, brokers, and realtors in the audience on the dais and at the tables — how could you not help them out?

He’d ask every banker there to pledge how many mortgages they’d make in the next month, and the next month and so on.

He’d ask White Plains leaders to accept the responsibility of leadership and by reaching out personally to the homeless, the illegally housed, the unemployed youth to provide them meals and, perhaps jobs during the day, to welcome them in to White Plains somehow. To help them make a new start in White Plains in a firehouse, a church, or a vacant hospital. To challenge businesses to weave these persons into the fabric of the downtown, instead of telling them they are not welcome.

He’d challenge us to step up our humanity, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did when no one else would 60 years ago.

He’d shame the two governments, county and city, for not treating the immigrants, the foreclosees, the homeless, the union members with simple human respect and adhering to the constitution, which prohibits you from being jailed for no reason – a policy incredulously being pushed by politicians who should read the constitution just once to reset their minds.

He’d ask White Plains to rise up and forgive the persons with the prison records who have done their time, and find jobs for them and through forgiveness, and respect for them, Melt away the English-challenged persons’ suspicions and resentments. 

And about our gangs:

Dr. Martin Luther King would go out to the streets of White Plains, Greenburgh, Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Port Chester, New Rochelle, Peekskill – the cities where gang activity has been reported – and speak to them about where they are going. It is difficult to say Dr. King would say to the gang members of our area.

But he would be in their faces.

But, I assure you he’d be in their midst confronting this problem and admitting it exists.

As we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Monday. Ask ourselves what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would think of the way we have treated the less fortunate? What he would think about how we have “reached out?”

Would he approve of the way we are working with our youth, our Hispanic population, about how dollars are being used to make unsafe housing safe and why it cannot be policed better, about how dollars are being spent in school districts whether on educating people or creating buildings or stadiums; how dollars are being spent by organizations supposedly helping the afflicted, and how they are really doing, and what are they doing with the dollars.

He’d excoriate the variable and below prime mortages now being foreclosed as a new form of financial redlining invented by the financial establishment to exploit. He’d ridicule the efforts of the government to “save” gazillion-dollar financial institutions while allowing homeowners to lose their houses.

He’d shame the banks now refusing to give mortgages to many. He’d point out the hypocrisy of holding students to pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans, while giving away money to Wall Street, the banks, and oil companies

He’d save particular scorn for the bloated banks paying dividends to shareholders while foreclosing on persons who have lost their jobs. Where is the outcry of leaders of any stripe today on THAT outrage?

Would Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. approve?

He’d remind us that Jesus Christ chose to minister to the “hardcore” of his time. He went into their midst. He healed them and made them fishers of men.

The way to honor Dr. King Monday is to honor the afflicted, help the troubled with dignity, not humiliate them, not shun them, not “throw  them out.”

The way Dr. King would view our world today? He’d observe that “we need work.”

That the lynchings and the shutting of school doors are gone, but the attitudes remain.

He’d point that out with his long finger pointing right at us.

He’d say, “I still have a dream.”

He’d be pointing his finger at the double-standard of justice for the minority youth and the wealthy institutions that exists today.

He’d be calling upon all to keep our eyes on the prize and not on the power, the prestige, and the people who would steer us away from what needs to be done.

We need to make the comfortable uncomfortable, and comfort the afflicted.

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WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. January 19, 2013 UPDATED 11:40 A.M. E.S.T.:

The Gannett Journal News has removed names and addresses of Westchester County and Rockland County gun permit holders from its website, first published December 23, 2012.

The publisher of the paper, Janet Hasson, in a letter to Journal News readers, defended the paper decision to publish names and addresses of gunowners, and explained why the paper took the names and addresses down.

The overall map still is shown on the Journal News website, but unlike the previous version, you cannot telescope in on a community, and see, street-by-street where gun permitholders are in residence on the street. The map is now simply a maze of red dots.

Previously, in the White Plains area, the map could be viewed to pinpoint every home on every street in White Plains where a gun permit for a pistol was registered. WPCNR counted up approximately 600 gun permit holders across White Plains, about 2% of 31,000 Registered voters, which is consistent with the Westchester County proportion (17,000 gun permit holders for pistols only, out of a one million population–1.7%)

Earlier this week, January 15,  Hasson received a strong letter from the Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino, who called on the paper to “take the map down,” because it endangered residents who held gun permits. (The paper did not publish Mr. Astorino’s letter, but you can see that letter elsewhere on WPCNR at http://www.whiteplainscnr.com/admin.php?op=EditStory&sid=9446

Reacting to the map take-down today, County Executive Robert P. Astorino issued this statement to media:

“From the moment the Journal News published the gun owners map, it put law-abiding citizens, including judges, police officers and victims of domestic violence, at risk. I had asked the publisher to take down the map as a matter of public safety and common sense. Though four weeks too late, I am glad to see the Journal News has finally done the right thing and taken the map down.”

Within the last week, two gun permitholders’ homes have been burglarized, one in each county. In one on Davis Avenue in White Plains, merchandise and cash was taken, according to White Plains police, and a gun locker showed signs of being tampered with. In another such burglary in Clarkstown in Rockland County, weapons were taken by thieves.

The letter from Hasson, does not mention whether the two burglaries had any influence in the decision, or whether there was  corporate pressure from Gannett executives to remove the map.

Here is the text of Ms. Hasson’s letter published explaining the paper decision to publish the map originally and the reason for the take-down which occurred late Friday afternoon:

To our readers:

In the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, The Journal News thought the community should know where gun permit holders in their community were, in part to give parents an opportunity make careful decisions about their children’s safety.

The Journal News mapped the public database of permit holders, placing a dot on the address of every permit holder in Westchester and Rockland counties and providing the name and street address of each holder. The dots conveyed a powerful message: gun permit holders are everywhere in our counties.

But public reaction to the posting of names and street addresses was swift and divided. Many in the community expressed their gratitude for The Journal News’ decision to make the information available, but permit holders were outraged at what they considered to be an invasion of privacy. Gun owners from across the country vocally conveyed their anger and accused The Journal News of having exposed permit holders and non-permit holders alike to the risk of burglaries and other crimes. Hundreds of threats were made to Journal News staffers.

So intense was the opposition to our publication of the names and addresses that legislation passed earlier this week in Albany included a provision allowing permit holders to request confidentiality and imposing a 120-day moratorium on the release of permit holder data.

Today The Journal News has removed the permit data from lohud.com. Our decision to do so is not a concession to critics that no value was served by the posting of the map in the first place. On the contrary, we’ve heard from too many grateful community members to consider our decision to post information contained in the public record to have been a mistake. Nor is our decision made because we were intimidated by those who threatened the safety of our staffers. We know our business is a controversial one, and we do not cower.

But the database has been public for 27 days and we believe those who wanted to view it have done so already. As well, with the passage of time, the data will become outdated and inaccurate.

 

Equally important, the legislature has weighed in on the issue and representatives of residents from across the state have said that some New Yorkers who hold gun permits should have the right to keep that information private. As a news organization, we are constantly defending the public’s right to know. Consequently we do not endorse the way the legislature has chosen to limit public access to gun permit data. The statute is very broad and allows anyone who meets certain criteria within qualifying categories to keep their permit information private. When the moratorium concludes, far fewer permit holders will be identifiable, and those who want to know which houses on their block may have guns will not be able to get that information. But we are not deaf to voices who have said that new rules should be set for gun permit data.

Make no mistake, The Journal News will continue to report aggressively on gun ownership. We will continue to pursue our request for data from Putnam County, and will closely analyze the data for Westchester and Rockland counties when it once again becomes publicly available. And we will keep a snapshot of our map — with all its red dots — on our website to remind the community that guns are a fact of life we should never forget.

Sincerely,

Janet Hasson

President and Publisher

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WPCNR HEALTH WATCH. From Caren Halbfinger, Westchester County Department of Health. January 18, 2013:

County Executive Robert P. Astorino announced today that the Westchester County Department of Health will offer free flu shots to residents on Thursday, Jan. 24 , from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Westchester County Center in White Plains.

“With so much demand for the flu shot right now, some doctors and pharmacists are having a hard time keeping up ,” Astorino said. “By offering free flu shots, we aim to help those residents who have not yet gotten vaccinated.’’

The county has 1,000 doses which can be given to adults and children ages 9 and up. Residents are strongly encouraged to register in advance for the flu clinic at www.health. ny.gov/Go2Clinic. Those without internet access can call (914) 995-7425, weekdays, starting Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“It’s important for everyone six months and older to get a flu shot every year,” said Health Commissioner Sherlita Amler, MD. “We hope residents will take advantage of this opportunity, because flu season can last well into the spring. It’s also equally important to wash your hands frequently, to avoid sick people and to stay home when you are sick. Most people will recover on their own from the flu with no need to go to an emergency room or the doctor.”

Residents can also visit the health department website to find providers and pharmacies who are giving flu shots. Physicians can call the health department if they have excess vaccine to share with other providers or if they are willing to give vaccines to people who are not their patients.

The flu shot is safe and provides protection against the three strains of the flu that are circulating this season.

To prevent spreading the flu, cough or sneeze into your elbow and wash your hands often with soap and water. If you do get a respiratory infection, stay home until 24 hours after your fever subsides, to avoid spreading your germs. Clean surfaces you touch frequently, such as doorknobs, water faucets, refrigerator handles and telephones. Get plenty of rest, exercise and eat healthy food.

For more information, visit www.westchestergov.com/health, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/wchealthdept, follow us on Twitter @wchealthdept or call us at (914) 813-5000.

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WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Governor’s Press Office. January 15, 2013:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed into law the NY SAFE Act (Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act) that will give New York State the toughest gun laws in the nation. The legislation includes provisions to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons and potentially dangerous mental health patients, and ban high capacity magazines and assault weapons.

Under the legislation, New York will be the first state in the nation to ban any magazine that can hold more than seven rounds and run instant background checks on all ammunition purchases at the time of sale.

The legislation will allow authorities to track ammunition purchases in real time to alert law enforcement to high volume buys, and will include a statewide standard requiring recertification of pistol permits every five years.

The legislation also closes a private sale loophole to ensure all gun purchases are subject to a background check, and toughens criminal penalties on those who use illegal guns.

“The new law will limit gun violence through common sense, reasonable reforms that include addressing the risks posed by mentally ill people who have access to guns and banning high capacity magazines and lethal assault weapons,” Governor Cuomo said. “This legislation is not about hunters, sportsmen, or legal owners who use their guns appropriately. It is about reducing gun violence and making New York a safer place to live. I thank leadership of both the Assembly and Senate for their action on this important legislation.”

Key provisions of the NY SAFE Act include:

Mental Health Alert: Under the legislation, mental health professionals will be required to report to local mental health officials when there is reason to believe a patient is likely to engage in conduct that will cause serious harm to themselves or others. This information will then be crosschecked against the new comprehensive, and regularly updated, gun registration database. If the patient possesses a gun, the license will be suspended and law enforcement will be authorized to remove the person’s firearm.

Tougher assault weapons ban: The legislation outlines a stricter definition of assault weapons, and implements an immediate ban of defined assault weapons. Under the stricter definitions, semi-automatic pistols and rifles with detachable magazines and one military style feature will be considered assault weapons. Semi-automatic shotguns with one military style feature will also be considered assault weapons.

Assault weapons possessed before the effective date must be registered within a year and recertified every five years. Owners of grandfathered assault weapons may only sell out of state or through an in state federal firearms licensee. Under the legislation, the Bushmaster used in the Newtown, Connecticut shooting will be illegal.

Stronger regulations on ammunition: Under the legislation, New York will have the strongest ban on high capacity magazines in the country, with a limit on capacity of seven rounds, down from the current limit of ten. The legislation includes a ban on possession of pre-1994 high capacity magazines, and will require owners to sell the banned magazines out of state within one year. Existing ten round magazines can be grandfathered in, but may only be loaded with 7 rounds.

To track high-volume ammunition purchasers, the legislation will make New York the first state in the nation to track ammo purchases in real time. All dealers in ammunition must be registered with the State Police, and each sale will require both a state background check and transmission of a record of the sale to State Police, so as to enable alerts of high volume purchases. Ammunition records will be purged within a year of submission.

Dealers must report any loss of inventory. The legislation will also include a ban on direct internet sales of ammunition. Ammunition ordered over the internet must be delivered in a face-to-face transaction with a firearms dealer and the purchaser will be subject to the state background check. The Aurora shooter reportedly amassed 6000 rounds through direct online purchases.

Statewide recertification of handguns and assault weapons: The legislation will require individuals who have a handgun license or have registered an assault weapon in New York State to recertify every five years through their county of residence. With this more accurate information, the state will establish an electronic gun permit database that may be run against other databases containing the names of people who will be disqualified from possessing firearms, including those with criminal convictions, involuntary commitments, and those subject to orders of protection, as well as death records.

Universal Background Checks – closing the private sales loophole: The legislation will require all gun transfers between private parties, except immediate family, to be conducted through a federal firearms licensee, subject to a subject to a federal National Instant Criminal Background Check.

Webster Provision: Under the legislation, murder of a first responder who is engaged in his or her duties will become a Class A-1 felony, with a mandatory penalty of life in prison without parole. This provision was created to honor the memory of Lt. Mike Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka who were victims of a fatal shooting in Webster, New York, on December 24, 2012.

Extending and Strengthening Kendra’s Law: Kendra’s law will be extended for two years – through 2017 – and the period of mandatory outpatient treatment will be extended from 6 months to one year. In addition a review will be required before a mentally ill inmate is released.

Protecting Families: When a judge issues an order of protection and finds a substantial risk that the individual subjected to the order will use a gun against the person protected by the order, the judge is required to the surrender of the weapon.

Safe Storage: To better ensure that guns are kept inaccessible to those who are barred from possessing them, the legislation requires safe storage of firearms in households where individuals live who have been convicted of a crime, involuntarily committed, or are subject to an order of protection. Existing state law already requires that all guns sold at retail in the state be sold with a gun lock.

Keeps Guns Out of Schools: Under the legislation, the penalty for possession of a firearm on school grounds or a school bus will be increased from a misdemeanor to a Class E Felony.

The state’s SAVE Act (Safe Schools Against Violence in Education) requires school districts to develop school safety plans including evacuation, dismissal, community response, and alerting family, law enforcement and other schools in the area in the event of a violent incident or other emergency.

The legislation will allow school districts to submit their school safety plans to a newly created New York State School Safety Improvement Team, consisting of representatives from state agencies with relevant expertise (e.g. DHSES, State Police, DCJS), which will review plans and assist localities in developing plans.

Some designated safety system improvements will be eligible for enhanced re-imbursement under the state’s School Building Aid formula. New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers and Syracuse will be exempted.

Tougher penalties for illegal gun use: The legislation establishes tougher penalties for those who use illegal guns as well as measures to help combat gang violence. Tougher penalties under the legislation include:

· Possession of an unloaded gun will be raised from a misdemeanor to a Class E felony.
· Recklessly injuring a child by a firearm will become a Class D felony
· The purchase of a gun for someone the buyer knows to be disqualified because of a conviction of a crime, an involuntary commitment or other disqualifier, will be raised to a Class D felony from a misdemeanor. This also raised to a class D felony the sale or transfer of a firearm to an individual known to be prohibited from possessing a gun.
· Tougher penalties to permit more effective gang prosecutions, allowing a prosecutor to ask for 25 to life (previously was just 15 years) for an entire group when a gang is involved in murder.
· Using or carrying a firearm during drug trafficking or a violent felony will include a 5 year mandatory minimum sentence if the gun is loaded and a 3½ year mandatory minimum if unloaded. (The Court could impose a lower sentence in drug trafficking cases depending on mitigating factors).
· Sharing a gun with an individual who is not authorized to possess a gun and commits a crime will constitute criminal facilitation.