Gravity Knife Reform Appears Blocked By GOP In State Senate
A state senator from Brooklyn has emerged as a major stumbling block in the drive to reform New York’s controversial “gravity knife” law, an effort that now looks likely to fail for a fourth year in a row.
Senator Martin Golden, a Republican representing Bay Ridge and other parts of southern Brooklyn, says he’s concerned that amending the law — which critics say has been abused by the NYPD and overwhelmingly affects people of color — would hand a win to “MS-13 gang members.”
“Knives kill, knives maim, knives are used in assaults on a regular basis,” Golden told the Voice. He said gravity knives are used in a large number of violent crimes, and said it was unwise to give violent criminals another tool for mayhem. “And as a former New York City police officer, I know the dangers of gravity knives. If you take a look at the weapons of choice today, we’re not locking people up with guns as much as we are with knives….MS-13 used that on a regular basis. They pulled people’s teeth out with them. They poked people’s eyes out with them. These people are terrible, terrible people.”
The debate over reform has been persistently hampered by a lack of information, and Golden’s assertions about gravity knife violence are unsupported by available data. While stabbings and slashings — with cutting weapons of all types — are more common than shootings in New York City, guns were used in more than twice as many homicides in 2016 as knives of any variety.
Read more: https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/06/15/gravity-knife-reform-appears-blocked-by-gop-in-state-senate/