A New York lawmaker known as on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Thursday to ship extra brokers to Lengthy Island to fight illicit firearm trafficking in Nassau County.
In a letter to ATF Director Steven Dettelbach, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito argued that “skyrocketing crime” on Lengthy Island has overwhelmed native regulation enforcement businesses and left them unable to concentrate on investigating the supply of unlawful weapons flooding New York’s 4th Congressional District.
“Simply final 12 months, two people from Georgia had been arrested for trafficking over twenty-five weapons into Nassau County, eleven of which had been discovered on the scene of crimes,” D’Esposito notes in his letter. “That is unacceptable. Gun trafficking into Lengthy Island is detrimental to our communities and we should do the whole lot in our energy to make sure that native regulation enforcement businesses are empowered with the sources and instruments they should preserve our communities protected.”
Police in Nassau County seized some 278 unlawful firearms final 12 months, up from at the least 195 in 2021 and 183 in 2020.
D’Esposito, a former NYPD detective, believes elevated cooperation between the ATF and Nassau County cops – together with having extra federal brokers in Nassau – will help stem the circulation of weapons coming into Lengthy Island.
“It’s my understanding that there’s a vital disparity between the variety of ATF officers on Lengthy Island and people in New York Metropolis. I’m asking that you simply improve your collaboration with native regulation enforcement businesses to help with investigations and fight gun trafficking,” D’Esposito writes.
The Home of Representatives permitted D’Esposito’s pro-law enforcement decision condemning calls to “defund the police” final week in a 268-156 vote that noticed 62 Democrats help the New York pol’s measure.
The decision additionally codified a federal “invoice of rights” for cops additionally proposed by D’Esposito.
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