Michelle
Schimel
Community Update
Summer 2008
|
|
Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel Community Update Summer 2008 |
| ASSEMBLYWOMAN MICHELLE SCHIMEL LEADS EFFORT WITH NYS LAW ENFORCEMENT TO HELP SOLVE GUN CRIMES |
|
Assembly Passes Landmark Microstamping Legislation
In an effort to help law enforcement solve gun crimes, Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel is leading the fight in the New York State Legislature on her landmark microstamping legislation (A.9819A). Microstamping is a crime-fighting technology designed to aid law enforcement in investigating and solving homicides and other gun-related crimes. This technology allows police to trace firearms through cartridge casings found at crime scenes, even if the crime gun is never recovered. Sobering statistics from the FBI indicate that nearly 40% of all homicides go unsolved each year in the United States. In 2005, there were 3,235 unsolved gun-related homicides nationwide. In the future, New York could see a higher percentage of closed firearm cases if investigators could identify crime guns solely from cartridge cases collected at crime scenes. “When a person is murdered or victimized with a firearm we want to know who fired that gun,” said Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel. “No shooter has the right to hide behind a blank shell casing.” In April, the New York State Assembly passed Schimel’s microstamping bill, A.9819A, which requires all semiautomatic pistols manufactured or delivered to any licensed firearms dealer in the State of New York to be capable of microstamping ammunition by January 1, 2010. This legislation will not place any restrictions on gun ownership or access, will not require any new databases and will not impose any new costs on the state. |
| The Media & Michelle |
Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel answered several questions from the television and print media about microstamping, the next generation crime-fighting tool, following her press conference on April 14. |
|
Microstamping Bill Blocked By State Senate:
“Police investigators work hard to catch perpetrators who prey on our communities, prosecutors work hard to build cases against these criminals. It is unacceptable not to embrace this effective crime fighting tool,” said Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel. Contact Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and urge him to enact Assemblywoman Schimel’s microstamping bill, A.9819A. He can be contacted at:
Room 503, State Capitol |
| Schimel Sponsors Live Fire Demonstration |
|
On May 19, Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel was joined at the New York State Police Academy Firing Range by Todd Lizotte, co-inventor of microstamping technology, and Joshua Horowitz, the Executive Director of the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, who demonstrated exactly how microstamping works at a live fire demonstration. Law enforcement officials and legislators gathered to judge for themselves the effectiveness of microstamping technology. After several rounds of bullets were fired from a semiautomatic pistol equipped with microstamping capability, those present examined the markings on the spent cartridge casings under a microscope. |
A Police Officer fires a semiautomatic pistol with microstamping capability at the New York State Police Academy Firing Range in Albany. |
|
Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel examines a microstamped cartridge that was ejected from a semiautomatic pistol during a live fire demonstration. |
|
Law Enforcement Supports Common Sense Technology
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice believes that microstamping is another ‘common sense’ tool that law enforcement can use to keep our community safe. “Like fingerprinting and DNA testing, microstamping is a technological advancement that will strengthen prosecutions of the guilty and help exonerate the innocent. I applaud Assemblywoman Schimel and her efforts to improve public safety and draft laws that will make our communities safer places,” said DA Rice. Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey finds microstamping effective. “Although we are lucky enough to live in one of the safest counties in the nation, I believe it is important that we remain proactive in our fight against crime in general and specifically against gun violence, which we are seeing more of these days. Microstamping would be a valuable investigative tool that would assist our Detectives with solving crimes committed within our great county,” said Mulvey. |
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Back |
Magnified image of a microstamped cartridge
Components of a Cartridge
Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel is joined by (L to R) Assemblyman Charles Lavine,
Port Washington Police Chief William Kilfoil, Assemblyman Steven Englebright, Chief
Lloyd Perkins of the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police, and Senator Martin
Golden of Brooklyn.
Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice
and Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey held a press conference last month to
urge the Senate to pass Schimel’s microstamping bill (A.9819A). Pictured L to R:
Nassau County DA Rice, Assemblywoman Schimel and Police Commissioner Mulvey.
