Governor Hochul: “It's going to stop right now. That is the message. We have the resources. We have the will, we have the desire to get this done because our citizens are calling on us to protect them so they can feel safe once again, in this great city and this incredible state. Mr. President, thank you for your time. You being here today sends a powerful message and we do not forget that you never forgot us at the time when we needed your support the most.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at a meeting of the Gun Violence Strategies Partnership Task Force with President Joe Biden and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the event is available here.
PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Mr. President, life is all about showing up and on a day when you had to deal with an international incident, where the rest of the country was riveted by the news that was coming out of the White House, you still found the time to show up. And to me, that is a commitment that we will not take for granted. It's more than just words, it's a sign of your desire to really be a partner with all of us as I am with the Mayor of New York and with our District Attorneys and the New York State Police and the NYPD, who I said today, it is so refreshing not to see you sitting there with tears in our eyes in St. Patrick's Cathedral as we have been doing far too often. So, Commissioner, I want to thank you for leading an incredible team. I'm proud of my team at the state level. We also have other state partners. We have our great Attorney General, Leticia James, is here. Mr. Attorney General, thank you, we think you're doing a great job with the country. We've got the all-star right here in our own state, as well. As well as all the elected officials who I had the privilege of serving with in Congress a decade ago.
This is the team that has to be activated because we cannot wait a single day longer because the challenge that lies before us, it's not unique to New York State, it is not unique to the city, it's an American crisis, but what we're doing here in the State of New York and in the City of New York can be used as a model for other parts of our country to show them what real collaboration looks like. I've been in this business a long time, and I've seen that people get into silos, federal government's going to handle this case, the prosecutors over here, and the local government and district attorneys are over here and the state government has a different role. For the first time in my life, I'm seeing a unification of purpose that has been missing and the ones who should be afraid of that are those who dare violate the laws that are in place to protect the people of our cities and our state.
But also, there are people we're hurting in this community. We saw an incredible increase in violence immediately following the pandemic. It appears to me the human condition was very frail. We have people who succumbed to suicide, substance abuse, domestic violence, and even, yes, acquiring a gun on the streets for $1,200 and using it against one of their fellow man or woman.
We have to figure out the root causes here and that is why in my budget, I not only tripled the amount of money to support our law enforcement activities and community policing, but tripled the amount of money being spent on the exact kind of programs we're all talking about here is figuring out what is happening when young people are faced with that decision that's going to affect them for the rest of their lives. Do I stay on the straight and narrow or do I succumb to the streets? Where am I going to find my family? We need to provide that family and let them know that there are jobs and opportunities and adults who care about them and the violence disrupters - and I've seen them in action so many times - many of them are former gang members. They're the ones who can speak to them in a way that no one else can. So we're continuing to support that.
And, Mr. President, I want to thank you for the American Recovery Plan dollars. We are spending them on many important causes, but we are dedicating many of them, as you have suggested, to dealing with both sides of the equations. The very human side, we need to be dealing with the resources and support for these people, but also those who cross the line and deal with that and make sure our law enforcement have the resources.
With respect to ghost guns, I signed a law just a few months ago that banned them in the State of New York. As a series of reforms, we also banned the component parts and we named it after an individual whose name I'm going to say right now. And that is Scott J. Beigel. He is the brave teacher in that school in Parkland where our children were slaughtered, his family is from Long Island. We named it after him and his mother was there and gave me this hug and said, we'll never forget Scott, will we? And I said, never, never, ever. Just as we remember other victims, the men and women like Officer Rivera and Mora, who so proudly wear those uniforms. To hear from their families, what it meant to them to put on that uniform every day. It was so impactful and powerful to hear the words. We have to fight to protect them as well.
So, Mr. President, we're going to find all the smart ways to double down on this. The task force that you’ve referenced has already worked together, collaboratively, nine states, in addition to the State Police, NYPD, and your own ATF is represented, Boston Police Department, these counties and states have come together like never before with one purpose: to stop the flow of guns over our borders because yes, as governor, I'm going to help my mayors and I have mayors all over the state who need my help. But my job is to protect those borders because 80 percent of guns in this state are coming from other states illegally.
So I'm watching those borders. Let everybody be aware. We are checking. We're out there checking the people who are putting guns in their trunks at gun shows in Pennsylvania, heading north, and ending up in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island.
It's going to stop right now. That is the message. We have the resources. We have the will, we have the desire to get this done because our citizens are calling on us to protect them so they can feel safe once again, in this great city and this incredible state.
Mr. President, thank you for your time. You being here today sends a powerful message and we do not forget that you never forgot us at the time when we needed your support the most.