In the wake of the tragic shooting death of NYPD Officer Peter Figoski, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. yesterday demanded that Congress strengthen gun laws.
Vance called on the federal government to require background checks for all firearms sold at gun shows.
He also opposes a bill that would allow residents who can legally carry concealed guns in one state to bring the arms to any other state, regardless of that state’s licensing laws.
“Stripping New York of the discretion to determine who can carry a concealed weapon when they are temporarily residing in or traveling in New York state would be a danger to New Yorkers, our visitors and our law-enforcement community,” Vance told the City Council Public Safety Committee yesterday.
The gun that Lamont Pride is accused of using to shoot Figoski was initially purchased in 1999 at a Colonial Heights, Va., pawnshop.
The committee is considering resolutions urging Congress to close the so-called “gun-show loophole” and oppose the measure allowing concealed weapons to move through states.
“New York state is, in fact, one of only six states in the country that has already closed this loophole at the state level by requiring universal background checks on all firearm sales at gun shows, including sales by unlicensed drivers,” Vance said.
“But absent similar initiatives across the nation, gun-show loopholes are a very real threat to New York,” he said.