NEW YORK — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund announced its endorsement of New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, and Attorney General Letitia James for election to another term this fall. The candidates endorsed today have been gun sense champions while serving in office, and have previously received the Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate Distinction.
“Governor Hochul, Lieutenant Governor Delgado, and Attorney General James are all gun sense champions who walk the walk, whether that means raising their voice to support strong gun safety bills, raising their pen to sign those bills into law, or raising arguments in court to defend those laws against gun lobby attacks,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “New Yorkers are safer because of their courageous leadership, and they have Everytown’s full support as they run for another term.”
“Governor Hochul, Lieutenant Governor Delgado, and Attorney General James have continued to take strong, lifesaving action on gun safety to protect our children and communities,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “These gun sense champions can count on a grassroots army of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers behind them from now through November to make sure they’re back in office next year fighting for us.”
This month, Governor Hochul signed a gun safety bill package to address a wide range of gun safety issues following mass shootings at Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, as well as others across the country. The package includes bills to require microstamping on handguns, strengthen the state’s extreme risk and firearm purchase permit laws, prohibit high capacity magazines, and create a statewide code of conduct for firearm dealers, among others. Attorney General James has also been a gun safety champion, defending New York’s strong gun laws in court, holding rogue gun dealers and those fueling our gun violence crisis accountable, and calling for federal action on gun violence prevention.
In an average year, 870 people die and 2,607 people are wounded by guns in New York. Gun violence costs New York $5.9 billion each year, of which $321 million is paid by taxpayers. More information about gun violence in New York is available here.