Following a shooting outside a Utica high school, state Senator Joe Griffo is proposing tougher penalties for those who carry guns near schools.
In early September, a 16-year-old was arrested for shooting a school resource officer who was breaking up a fight outside a high school football game at Proctor High School in Utica. The security guard was shot in the back of the head and is expected to make a full recovery.
A game against Binghamton High School was in its final moments when the fight broke out in the parking lot outside the stadium. At least two school security guards intervened to break up the fight when shots were fired and the unidentified guard was hit.
The teenager was arrested on charges including attempted second-degree murder. Police said they could not identify the teenager because of his age, but said he was not a current student at Proctor High School and was enrolled in an alternative education programme.
“In the wake of the recent shooting outside a Proctor High School football game in Utica, it is incumbent upon the Legislature to ensure that we have the tools necessary to combat school and community violence,” Griffo wrote in his legislative justification for S.7699, which was recently introduced in the state Senate. “This legislation would increase penalties for firearms crimes committed within 5,000 feet of school property and would provide school and law enforcement officials with access to the records of juveniles with criminal records so that a school and community safety plan can be developed.”
Griffo wants to amend the state’s penal code to increase penalties for certain crimes involving weapons on or near school grounds, as well as amend the Family Court Act and the state’s Criminal Procedure Act to make records available for those under the age of 18. The Rome Republican also proposes to allow courts to consider the existence of exceptional circumstances and significant physical injury when deciding whether to transfer juvenile offenders to family court. The Rome Republican also wants to amend the pension and social security law to increase the annual income limit for certain retired police officers. Griffo wants to amend the state’s criminal procedure law to include a defendant’s identifiable ties to the community, state and/or county in considering whether to issue a security order, while also amending the civil procedure law and rules and the criminal procedure law to allow courts to hold a pre-trial hearing on community safety and well-being.
“This legislation also seeks to amend several previously enacted criminal justice provisions, including Raise the Age and former Governor Cuomo’s ban on the release of mug shots of those accused of violent crimes with a firearm. In addition, the legislation adds provisions to increase support for school safety and school resource officers,” Griffo wrote. “Finally, this legislation would give courts more leeway in how to use resources on suspects who may pose a danger to their communities and creates the crime of “criminal solicitation in the third degree” when a juvenile is provided a firearm by someone over the age of 18 with the intent to use it in a violent crime.