A New York state law aimed at preventing gun violence has had little impact on Onondaga County, according to law enforcement officials and experts.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo implemented the “Red Flag” law in August to allow police to confiscate guns from people who prove a risk to themselves or others. The legislation, also known as the extreme risk protection order law, prevents at-risk individuals from purchasing firearms.

While “Red Flag” laws have prevented mass shootings and suicides in other states, the law doesn’t apply to the city’s most common types of gun violence, said Christopher Morley, chair of the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

“The worst aspects of gun violence in the county are not related to mass shooting events or to suicides,” Morley said.

Many of the city’s crimes are gang-related, said Sgt. Matthew Malinowski, a Syracuse Police Department spokesperson. The “Red Flag” law seems to be geared toward people with mental health concerns who are seeking firearms, he said.

There isn’t enough data yet to determine the effectiveness of the “Red Flag” law specifically in Syracuse, Malinowski said.

Firearms resulted in 18% of violent crimes reported in Syracuse in 2019, according to preliminary data from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. Guns were involved in 129 aggravated assaults, 62 robberies and 20 murders in the city last year, the data shows.

Of the 102 victims of shooting-related incidents in Syracuse in 2019, 12 were killed and 86 were injured.

Onondaga County had a firearm-related death rate of 7.14 per year between 2012 and 2016, according to data from the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. Of 167 deaths reported in those five years, 89 were suicides and 75 were homicides, according to the data.

The law hasn’t created huge changes in the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, said Sgt. Jon Seeber, public information officer for the sheriff’s office.

Under the “Red Flag” law, family members, school administrators and district attorneys can report suspicious activity from a person who has access to firearms. If the person is considered a threat, police will confiscate the gun until a judge determines whether the individual’s license should be revoked, Seeber said.

“We’ve always operated in this manner,” Seeber said. “It just gives an opportunity now for family members, teachers and doctors to speak up,” he said.

The “Red Flag” law does help police in detecting potential mass shooters, something lawmakers had in mind when implementing the legislation, Seeber said.

While there is no real set of symptoms to diagnose someone as a potential mass shooter, Morley said, having someone report suspicious activity is more effective than nothing. There is a lot of evidence suggesting that regulating and restricting firearms works in preventing gun violence, he said.

“It’s reasonable to want to separate (firearms) from people who want to do harm,” Morley said.

Published on March 3, 2020 at 10:35 pm

Contact Sarah: scalessa@syr.edu | @sarahalessan