Video, Audio, & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks Before Signing Legislation Package to Fight Gun Violence Epidemic

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks before signing a legislation package to fight the gun violence epidemic.

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 are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks are available below:

First of all, to our County Executive. Thank you for making Nassau County the safest community in America. You've done an extraordinary job, and brought heart and passion to your roles, it has been a pleasure to work with you. And I know that there's other communities too. We should watch what you do and the lessons that they can learn from Nassau County under your incredible leadership. Let's give our county executive another round of applause.

And to our friends here. Town of North Hempstead. I've been here so many times. I know you started these threaten to start charging me taxes. So, I had to stay away for a little bit, but I think we're good now, but you have truly great leaders. I know Judy couldn't be here, but I've seen her and all of you at so many events. So, thank you for hosting us at the 'Yes, We Can' Center. It's great to be here. I do want to acknowledge someone who's pain and yet her passion has brought us here today. And that is the mother of Scott Beigel, someone who I got to know very early on in my tenure as Lieutenant Governor. What Linda Beigel Schulman and her husband Michael have done is nothing short of extraordinary.

When you realize that so many people have been affected by gun violence, they lost someone they treasured, and those particularly who lose a child, it's more than heartbreaking. It has a permanent mark in your soul to loss a child that you brought in this. And for so many, they retreat into that pain because what else can they do? They just suffer in silence. But it takes extraordinary individuals to say, "I will not be silenced by gunfire. It may have taken down my son and other innocent children that he tried to protect when they should have been in the most secure place, their own school." You've been an inspiration to so many. And how you harness that pain and transformed it into action is something that is a lesson for all of us on the responsibility we have, not just to deal with what's happened to ourselves, but also how we can make sure that other families do not have to suffer.

And so, we've been to so many events together, and you just had the run this past weekend, and I know you've brought thousands of people together in your son's name around his birthday to raise money for this cause. Also traveling with us all around to make sure that we have sensible gun, gun violence, anti-gun violence laws, the red flag law and others. I know you're just getting started. So, to Linda and Michael let's give them a really special round of applause. And fighting gun violence is really a collaborative effort. It's the advocates, to all of you advocates, who wear the t-shirts, you're out that the rallies, you never give up. I want to thank you for bringing so many issues to the forefront. People like Linda and Michael, but also our elected officials. It's the advocates, to all of you, advocates who wear the t-shirts, you're out at the rallies, you never give up. I want to thank you for bringing so many issues to the forefront. People like Linda and Michael, but also our elected officials.

And I want to just thank all of them who champion these causes day in and day out, what they see in their districts. They take it to Albany. They work to get it to the committee. They get it to the legislature. They get it passed. And what I want to do is continue to encourage them to do what they do so well and let them know that I will continue to be their partner, that we will come to more of these events where I have the privilege of celebrating their accomplishments because I pick up a pen and support them, but they've done the groundwork and I want to call them out right now.

First of all, Assemblymember Rosenthal, thank you for making the journey here. You've done an incredible job. This has been a longtime passion of yours fighting gun violence, and you are truly making a difference. Let's give a round of applause to Senator Rosenthal.

Senator John Brooks is another one of our sponsors, I want to thank him for his incredible work, Senator John Brooks.

Assemblymember Chuck Lavine is here as well. I want to thank him for his work, being a sponsor of this.

Senator Anna Kaplan for all her incredible work in the short time she's been here.

And Senator Brad Hoylman, who is also just, in his responsibility as Chair of the Judiciary Committee has brought forth so much, so many of these important bills.

And Assemblymember Stern is also one of our sponsors. And to all the other legislators you weren't recognized, but know that I'll be there to sign many of your bills. Make sure they're all good bills so I can sign them all.

But we'll continue this new era of collaboration as radical as that may sound, we are changing things, doing it in a way that shows my appreciation for what the legislature does and the advocates.

So, let's talk a little bit about what our legislators that are together here [and what] we're accomplishing here today. We want to continue solidifying New York State's reputation as having the toughest gun laws in America, because gun violence has not abated. We cannot say we have laws in place and we're going to rest on that. We have to keep challenging ourselves to address the problems as they keep arising. And as technology changes and as the criminals become more clever and trying to evade our laws.

So we are continuing to make sure that we have those in place. We continue to lose people every single year. And I believe that this pandemic has really shaken people to their core, many communities, including the city of New York was one of the safest urban areas in our country, pre pandemic. I believe that the human condition is more frail than we realized, that what people had endured during this pandemic, the loss of jobs, the loss of connection, the loss of getting supportive services for people with mental illness problems, people who have substance abuse problems, it all sort of became fractured.

And as a result, we've seen its manifestation in so many different ways. More calls to our domestic violence hotlines than ever before. More people needing assistance with substance abuse, more addiction, more overdoses from opioids and heroin, and also more people dying of gun violence. But here's the good news.

We have turned the corner before. We don't have to remain in this place where people are, are so disconnected, who are still suffering. We have the opportunity to bring them back and bring our communities back.

And I believe in the process as we give more people guns and talk to them about turning away from gun violence and from gangs, and to make sure that people don't feel the need to go into a, a secure setting, like a school and slaughter the lives of so many innocent people.

We have to get to people where they are and try to be preventative. But until then, until then we have to make sure that we have the laws in place that'll protect society, because that is the number one job of me as the governor of this great state is to protect the people of New York. And so what we've done thus far, we've already announced almost $24 million in grant funds to help prevention. Job training placement, community activities, boosts intervention programs. There are so many intervener programs which are really working well now, people are understanding that people who've been through the system, have been incarcerated because of their activity with gun violence or were in a gang - they are the best people to come out and talk about what life that's facing these young people, if they continue on this path.

So we're going to continue funding programs like that, working with our clergy. And I want to thank Bishop Harvey again for lending his support to this, and so many others, because many people are just looking for that sense of possibility again. To believe that we're through the worst, that they can have a better alternative than turning to violence. In many times, the clergy can have an impact as well. So what's happening at the community level - whether it's in programs that we see offered in Nassau County or off programs that have been funded through the state. We want to make sure we continue those growing. But also we have to deal with the criminals, who no matter despite our best efforts, are trying to cause harm to other individuals. And we're going to continue seeing criminals going to extreme lengths to possess illegal guns, as much as we want to outlaw them. We still see what's going on here.

Now we're finally putting a stop to that. We are finding, we now have a bill that makes it a crime to sell the unfinished frames or receivers, where people can actually put together guns and evading our laws. Right now that has not been illegal. And I want to thank Senator Anna Kaplan and Assemblymember Chuck Lavine for what is going to be something I'm proud to sign the Scott J. Beigel Unfinished Receiver Act.

It's happening here. We're doing it today to put an end to their ways to evade the law by having component parts broken down and be able to use these guns in an illegal way. That'll help us stop people from building untraceable guns. The second bill is the Jose Webster Untraceable Firearms Act. I thank Senator Brad Hoylman and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal because right now people are buying and selling ghost guns. Who would have heard of ghost guns just a short time ago? This is where our legislature and all of us have to keep ahead of these challenges or at least find out when something is being done to evade current law, that we catch up with that and we stop it in its tracks. So we are now criminalizing the sale of ghost guns with this law and requires gunsmiths to register and serialize the firearms, the rifles, shotguns, and unfinished frames and receivers that they assemble.

Again, we're trying to get ahead of this in the best we can. And making sure that we put an end to these ghost guns here in the State of New York.

The third bill that was sponsored by Senator John Brooks and Assemblymember Steve Stern amends the definition of a disguise gun and that'll include a weapon capable of being concealed. So what happens is a lot of firearms look like toys. They look like toys now and so we're going to crack down on firearms that are designed to appear as toys guns and hopefully it'll make it easier for our law enforcement to not be confused as to what they're experiencing when they're stopping people on the street.

So, I want to thank everyone here for what they've done to bring these three bills forward. I also want to let people know that we are taking this, not just from the legislature, but also to the courts.

And tomorrow the Supreme Court will be hearing a case, New York State Pistol and Rifle Association against our New York State Police here in New York. And they're hearing oral arguments from them who are trying to continue to make it easier to carry concealed gun. That is the last thing we need in our society today is for people to be able to carry a concealed gun to places where we know they can do harm. We've seen this in other states, people have gotten away with this and they've caused crimes, but not here, not in the State of New York. So we're hoping to win those cases.

I want to thank everyone. You're going to hear from all of our sponsors who work so hard. So in advance, I want to thank them for what they've done to allow us to be here today, in any way we can, to honor those we've lost. This is a tribute to people like Scott and Jose Webster as well. So we will put their names on bills, but these are not just token gestures of our commitment.

It is a genuine commitment that we are going to continue this fight. It is not ending here today. We are just getting started and we're not going to stop until we know that every New Yorker feels safe and secure, and individuals do not feel that their only option in life is to turn to crime. That we'll offer them alternatives and a better shot at a future that takes them out of the streets and puts them into good paying jobs. So we have a multi-faceted approach to dealing with gun violence, but I want to thank everyone for their involvement here today. Thank you.