Legislative Column from Assemblyman Brian Curran (Lynbrook-21st AD)
For the past few weeks, I have been calling for action to fight the gang-related crime wave that is sweeping across Long Island as well as other parts of New York state. Long Island has been plagued in recent months by MS-13, in particular. Gangs like this are ruining our communities by recruiting our children, peddling drugs and perpetrating crimes up to and including sexual assault and murder. Action must be taken.
The New York State Senate recently passed legislation (S.2410) that will curtail gang-related crime by:
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- Enforcing harsher penalties;
- Creating new felonies for criminals who participate in, or benefit from, gang activity or recruit others to join a gang; and
- Attacking the root of the issue by creating educational programming in our schools.
The Senate has now passed this important legislation five out of the last six years, while the Assembly Majority, led by New York City Democrats, has forced it to die in the Assembly each of those years. At times, indifference to a particular issue can be excused, but the level of outright refusal to act on this issue by the Assembly Democrats cannot go unaddressed.
The safety of the public should be a priority for all legislators, so I ask my Assembly colleagues on the other side of the aisle, why do you object to this legislation so much? What could possibly be a plausible reason not to act to protect our residents from gang violence? These gangs are robbing children of their future when they recruit them; they are stealing sons and daughters from parents and they are claiming innocent lives for their own.
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According to the National Gang Intelligence Center, there are as many as 50,000 gang members in New York state with as many as 5,000 of them on Long Island. Recently, MS-13, a violent street gang with Central American ties has been blamed for 11 murders in Brentwood and Central Islip.
Gangs like this thrive off of chaos. Their only means of sustaining is to commit crimes like selling drugs and committing robberies and burglaries. By slowing the growth of gangs, we can decrease crime rates in our communities and protect the untapped potential of so many children. If passed and signed into law, this important legislation would serve to make all of New York state a much safer place for residents to live.
