Nassau DA Creating New Unit To Track Down Illegal Guns

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — Citing a large spike in the number of guns confiscated by police so far this year, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced that her office was creating a Firearms Suppression and Intelligence Unit.

From Jan. 1 through March 9, Donnelly said that police in Nassau County had seized 94 firearms during criminal investigations. That's up from 45 in the same period last year, and up from 51 over the period in 2020.

“The volume of firearms that we’ve seized since the new year is truly staggering,” Donnelly said. “We are witnessing a once-in-a-generation surge of illegal and untraceable weapons into Nassau County and too many innocent people are becoming victims of gun violence. We will use every tool at our disposal and collaborate with every federal and local partner to stem the flow of these weapons into Nassau County.”

Donnelly said the new unit will be made up of three prosecutors with extensive training in firearms and narcotics, as well as two specialized detective investigators with decades of experience in long-term weapons investigations. The unit will also have an intelligence analyst.

The unit will utilize enhanced investigative techniques and the new ballistics capabilities of the Nassau County Crime Laboratory to analyze if previously unrelated shootings are actually related.

“Our objective when we arrest a person with one gun is to find out where that gun came from and work our way up the pyramid to find out who is the gun supplier,” said Donnelly.

An analysis of gun prosecutions indicates that the majority of firearms seized in Nassau County are from out of state, with most trafficked along the “Iron Pipeline” from southeastern states to New York along Interstate 95.

Donnelly also said that more and more "ghost guns," which can be assembled from kits purchased online and do not have serial numbers, are being seized in criminal investigations in the county.

In February, both a dentist from Massapequa and New York City firefighter from Baldwin were arrested for possessing multiple illegal weapons, including ghost guns.