Kelly: Handguns the Main Problem on NYC Streets

NEW YORK (AP) —
Police officers load some of the guns taken in during a gun buyback event into a police van, Saturday, in Trenton, N.J. Authorities collected hundreds of weapons during a weekend gun buyback program in New Jersey's capital city. Authorities say people were allowed to drop off the weapons with no questions asked. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Police officers load some of the guns taken in during a gun buyback event into a police van, Saturday, in Trenton, N.J. Authorities collected hundreds of weapons during a weekend gun buyback program in New Jersey’s capital city. Authorities say people were allowed to drop off the weapons with no questions asked. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Handguns are the main problem on New York City streets when it comes to gun violence, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

In an interview Sunday on CBS, Kelly said he supported efforts toward an assault weapon ban, but that in New York City, handguns are much more prevalent.

“Only 2 percent of the people that we have arrested for guns in the last two years have had assault weapons,” Kelly said. “We don’t want them on the streets, make no mistake about it, but the problem is the handgun.”

He said 60 percent of murders in the city are done by handguns.

Kelly spoke out in support of universal background checks. He said about 6 million weapons were sold last year without one, and that requiring the checks would go a long way toward identifying straw purchases, the buying of guns by people who can legally do so on behalf of people who can’t.

Kelly also spoke about technology the NYPD is looking into that would be able to read a certain kind of energy emitted by people to detect the presence of a weapon.

The technology would give authorities the ability to look at terahertz radiation, which is naturally emitted by people. If a person was carrying a weapon, it would show up on the scanner as blocking some of that terahertz.

Kelly said it’s not ready for widespread usage yet.

To Read The Full Story

Are you already a subscriber?
Click to log in!