Gotham Gazette

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Opinion

We Have a New Tool to Remove Guns from Abusers; We Must Use It to Save Lives


table of guns mayors office

Guns (photo: Mayor's Office)


2020 has been a devastating year for people across the globe, especially right here in New York City. The isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly dangerous for people in homes where there is intimate partner violence — an epidemic that has only grown worse this year. Although there have been fewer reported domestic violence crimes in New York City this year than previous years, advocacy groups and survivor hotlines have been flooded with more calls than any time in history. The truth is that domestic violence incidents aren’t actually declining, they are going unreported — a dangerous trend that is leaving many survivors with fewer places to turn as they remain trapped at home with their abusers.

Intimate partner violence is even more deadly if the abuser possesses a gun. Thankfully, a recently-enacted provision of the New York Family Court Act offers a solution to some of the most dire cases, but only if advocates, lawyers, and judges educate the public and actively use this provision to better protect at-risk families.

Each month, an average of 53 women across the country are shot and killed by a partner. Between 2010 and 2017, intimate partner gun homicides shot up by 26% in the United States. For Black women in particular, the reality is even more dire. A 2017 CDC study found that Black women are twice as likely as white women to be fatally shot by their partners. Domestic violence may not be a uniquely American crisis, but in many ways gun violence in the home is, and the situation is deadly.

New York has long had some of the most comprehensive gun laws in the United States, and as of this November these protections finally have the possibility to extend to domestic violence survivors in an under-reported and little-acknowledged legal change.

Now, when a family member knows that there is a gun in the home and seeks an Order of Protection from our Family Courts or Criminal Courts, the court can authorize a search for a gun. In the past year alone, prior to this important addition to the law, the New York City Sheriff served nine such orders of protection from other states, resulting in the removal of eight guns from New York City homes.

When law enforcement serves such orders of protection on the abusive person, the search warrants provision of the order of protection — based on probable cause like any other search warrant — permits law enforcement to inquire about whether there is a gun in the home, and ultimately, if necessary, to search the home and remove the gun(s). But this provision only works if victims both know that it is an option, and feel comfortable disclosing that there is a gun in the home — no small task for someone dealing with the trauma of an abusive home.

As a former assistant district attorney, I’ve responded to heartbreaking scenes of domestic violence, gun violence, and murder. I’ve worked alongside survivors to seek justice, accountability, and safety for themselves and their families. I have found time and again that domestic violence victims are often uncomfortable or skeptical towards the courts system, and that this can be compounded when English may not be their first language, or they may fear immigration or other consequences to themselves or their family.

For such victims, disclosing information about abuse is incredibly challenging, and very few victims are likely to volunteer that there is a gun in the home without prompting. To more fully protect families, judges, lawyers, and advocates should be educated about this new law, and should take a trauma-informed and culturally-sensitive approach to inquiring specifically in every case about the presence of guns in the home.

Policies like this save lives and provide an added measure of safety for survivors of domestic abuse. Joining other states in authorizing judges to issue search warrants as part of orders of protection and allowing law enforcement to remove guns from the homes of those who have an order of protection against them was common sense and long overdue. As we close 2020 and welcome a new year, judges, lawyers, and domestic violence advocates finally have an overdue tool to get guns out of the hands of people who would turn them against their loved ones.

But we cannot expect victims to ask for this provision alone. They deserve our help. Let’s work together to get guns out of abusive households — people’s lives depend on it.

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Lucy Lang is a former Manhattan assistant district attorney, former Director of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay College, and is a Democratic candidate for Manhattan District Attorney. On Twitter @LucyLangNYC.

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The Mayor Must Immediately Create a Just Reentry System for Those Leaving City Jails


de Blasio prison reentry programming

The mayor at a pre-pandemic jail to jobs (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


The COVID-19 pandemic has served as another reminder that New York is a tale of two cities. The wealthy and elite were largely able to sequester themselves safely during the height of the pandemic and resume city life once infection rates went down. Many may again be removing themselves as cases rise. But the most vulnerable New Yorkers are still left without basic supports and services.

This is especially true for people released from city jails and detention centers. They were ignored when they were behind bars, where COVID spread at alarmingly higher rates than the rest of the city. Now, with the pandemic still with us and possibly worsening again, these New Yorkers leave the despair and neglect of jail to only once again have their needs discarded as they reenter society. We demand the needs of our formerly incarcerated fellow New Yorkers be met. There can be no equity and equality until we treat all individuals as human beings.

When COVID-19 hit, protecting people behind bars was largely dismissed. People who are incarcerated were largely ignored, even though, as The Legal Aid Society reported, city and state correctional facilities rapidly became epicenters of the virus.

Rapidly soaring covid cases in jails like Rikers and others forced attention to that population and calls to release incarcerated people to protect them from the dangerous conditions that left so many vulnerable to the virus.  The city responded by releasing 1,400 people between March 25 and May 3. As of September 22, over 1,950 people had been released.

This may sound like a good outcome, but in fact the release of incarcerated people during the pandemic has exposed more sharply the injustice of New York City’s reentry programs.

People are released from New York City jails without the basic tools they need to reenter society, including a valid I.D., which is essential for securing housing and other services. Those returning home lack sufficient medication or immediate access to Medicaid coverage due to bureaucratic hurdles preventing the immediate transfer of their medication from jail. Perhaps most shocking of all, many people leave jail, despite the extraordinarily high risk of contracting the virus behind bars, which of course threatens to lead to further community spread given how many people come in and out of our jails.

These basic services could be addressed by the Mayor, who can utilize the IDNYC program to provide a valid ID and effectively transition people’s healthcare upon release from Rikers, while also mandating COVID-19 testing during the reentry process. To further ensure that New Yorkers can get their lives back on track once they leave jail, we must provide safe and stable housing options. Unfortunately, our very own government discriminates against formerly incarcerated individuals through the NYCHA permanent exclusion rule, which can prevent those with criminal records from securing tenancy. We must end this regressive and harmful policy, which disproportionately impacts Black and Hispanic New Yorkers.

We must also pair this change with an increase in affordable housing for those in the reentry process, and the city can and must increase the value of its housing voucher program to meet the fair market rates for housing unit rental prices, while also supporting existing City Council legislation to ban source-of-income discrimination from private landlords.

Establishing a just and wholesome reentry program is essential if we want formerly incarcerated people to fully return to society safely and prevent the recidivism that plagues our prisons and jails. So, Mr. Mayor: What are you waiting for?

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Rabbi Barat Ellman is an anti-racism and criminal justice reform activist; a member of CAMMEERR, Children of Abraham, Martin, Malcolm, Ella, Emma, Rosa and Rose, a multiracial, cross-faith group; and of the Faith Leaders for Just Reentry Coalition of Trinity  Church of Wall Street. Shawanna Vaughn is an activist, advocate, and organizer for human rights, and the Executive Director of Silent Cry. On Twitter @BaratEllman & @SilentcrySv.

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It’s Time to Bridge New York’s Digital Divide — Here’s How


students wifi internet laptops

Getting students connected is one part (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor’s Office)


Despite millions of dollars spent and a variety of initiatives undertaken, too many New Yorkers still lack reliable online access at a time when it is more important than ever.

Reliable and fast connectivity is not a privilege, it’s essential. Without it, homes and businesses simply cannot succeed amid this public health crisis, which has forced many to live much of their lives virtually – from remote working and telehealth, to online learning, shopping, and socializing.  

The need to close the digital divide is now a mandate for elected officials at all levels of government. The telecommunications industry is eager to improve service across the state. Unfortunately, a patchwork of regulations stymie investments.

For example, a fee implemented on the fiber in municipal rights-of-way, passed as part of the 2019-20 state budget, makes it cost prohibitive to expand online service to areas most in need. Underground fiber provides the backbone of a strong online network. Also, a recently proposed E-LEARN bill would layer on additional costs. In addition, state lawmakers have twice rejected the governor’s proposed statewide plan to streamline permitting of small cells, the technology necessary to facilitate the deployment of the next generation of wireless connectivity, known as 5G. 

Students across the state face immense challenges getting online as schools shifted to all-virtual instruction in so many cases. Over 700,000 students and 18,000 teachers reportedly lack adequate connectivity, and the problem is particularly acute among Black and brown communities.  

In New York City alone, 40% of households across the five boroughs don’t have both home and mobile internet connections while 18% have neither.

5G will help address the digital divide with faster speeds, expanded capacity, and lower latency. The vast majority of Americans – 81% in 2019 – own a smartphone, making mobile devices an opportunity to address lack of connectivity, especially for young people, low-income individuals and people of color, who are more likely to rely on a smartphone as their primary means of online access.

Corporate philanthropy has rallied to help students in need throughout the pandemic, offering free or reduced-rate internet and donating WiFi hotspots and laptops. Now, elected officials and policy-makers need to facilitate the buildout of a small cell network that will increase coverage, capacity, and advance 5G. To do so, New York City must open a long-awaited reservation period – the time when authorized companies are allowed to bid on the right to use and lease city infrastructure (street and traffic lights and utility poles) to install telecommunications boxes and antennae — and the state Legislature must remove the barriers to deployment.

Reliable online service capable of transmitting large amounts of data is also critical to the success of telehealth, use of which increased exponentially in the pandemic’s early days and shows no signs of abating in popularity. NYC Health + Hospitals, for example, announced its telehealth visits had soared from just 500 in mid-March to more than 235,000 televisits by early June. Telehealth not only helps reduce costs, but also improves access to care in underserved rural areas. But good internet is essential.

Experts predict it will take years for New York and the nation to recover from the economic devastation wrought by the pandemic. Next-generation connectivity has the power to transform almost every aspect of modern life and the ability to generate millions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs across the state.  

Remote working, telehealth, online learning, commerce, entertainment and essential services, like 911, are all dependent on connectivity. However, we face many obstacles with expanding wired and wireless networks. If the city and state are serious about addressing the digital divide, keeping residents safe, and setting businesses up for success, it is well past time to think bigger than simply making internet subscriptions more affordable. We need the tools capable of ushering us into a world of virtual possibility – we need to enhance the current 4G infrastructure and deploy 5G.

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Ana Rua is Government Affairs Manager at Crowne Castle.

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