Bill Named For Slain Bed-Stuy Teen To Be Reintroduced In Congress

BROOKLYN, NY — An anti-gun trafficking bill named for a slain Brooklyn teenager gained new life this week.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced in front of Brooklyn Borough Hall on Monday that she will reintroduce the Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking & Crime Prevention Act, a bill aimed at making gun trafficking a federal crime that she first introduced in 2015.

The bill is named for two teenage girls who were victims of gun violence, including Nyasia Pryear-Yard, who died in Bed-Stuy in 2009 at 17 years old.

“Right now, there’s no federal law that defines gun trafficking across state lines as a crime. We need to make gun trafficking a federal crime so that we can keep these illegal guns off our streets and out of the hands of those who would not be allowed to buy them legally," Gillibrand said.

The federal bill comes as city and state leaders face an ongoing surge in gun violence in New York, particularly in New York City, where shooting incidents have spiked by 73 percent since May 2020.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo most recently declared a statewide "disaster emergency" on gun violence and unveiled a $138-million proposal to curb the shootings. Part of that money has gone to violence intervention and jobs for at-risk youth in Brooklyn, which has been identified as a hot spot for gun violence by Cuomo's administration.

Cuomo has pointed to the funneling of guns from other states as a major factor in New York's gun violence epidemic.

Under current law, there is now federal law defining gun trafficking as a crime, forcing law enforcement to rely on a patchwork of state regulations to crack down on criminal networks, according to Gillibrand.

Gilibrand's bill would add gun trafficking to the Federal Criminal Code with a specific focus on those who intend to transfer guns to those legally prohibited from possessing a firearm or those who operate major gun trafficking rings, according to Gillibrand. She said she will reintroduce it this week.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, the presumptive Democratic nominee for mayor, joined Gilibrand for the announcement. Adams met with President Joe Biden last week to discuss a local and federal partnership for solutions to gun violence.

"We know a major driver of this crisis is the over-proliferation of handguns in these communities," Adams said Monday.