ALBANY, N.Y. — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing for $1.5 billion in funding to stop the spread of illegal firearms in New York.
The news comes as violent gun incidents are on the rise.
Speaking at a news conference Sunday, Schumer said the money would specifically go to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), who in turn would direct its focus on the Iron Pipeline, gun trafficking, and states that export guns to New York.
The Iron Pipeline is a known route used to smuggle guns from Southern states to Northern ones.
"Ninety-five percent of the guns used in crimes in New York come from out of state," Schumer said.
A 2016 gun trafficking report from the New York State Attorney General's Office came up short of that 95% mark noted by the Senator. The report instead determined that the percentage of trafficked guns to New York was 76%. Schumer did not provide a source for his data, although it may likely be true.
"And so we must have the federal government, the ATF, get heavily involved if we are going to stop the spread and scourge of guns into New York because only the ATF's long arm can reach out to the gun dealers and gun traffickers."
I-95, or the "Firearms Freeway," as Schumer called it is one of the main ways illegal guns are entering the state. The interstate stretches from Florida to Maine, intersecting New York City.
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