NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared gun violence a statewide disaster emergency Tuesday and rolled out a long list of accompanying measures aimed at cracking down on what he branded a “new epidemic” of shootings.
Speaking at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, Cuomo said the disaster emergency order is the first of its kind in the country and allows the state to quickly allocate money and other resources to areas of New York where gun violence is running rampant.
Cuomo drew repeated parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic and said gun violence must be treated as a public health emergency on par with the virus.
“If you can beat COVID, you can beat gun violence,” the governor said. “We’re in a new epidemic, and it’s gun violence, and it’s a matter of life and death also.”
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