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Suing for Gun Control


Mean Streets
Othniel Askew used a handgun he purchased in North Carolina to kill City Councilmember James Davis inside City Hall. Two months later, during the West Indian American Day Parade, which takes place in the Brooklyn neighborhood where Davis served and which this year was dedicated to his memory, a man named Anthony Bartholomew was shot in the head and killed.

The shootings are just some of the latest, and most publicized, examples of gun violence in New York City. Vincent Rodriguez, an 18-year-old student at Martin Luther King High School, sneaked through a side door with a semi-automatic pistol in January 2002 and opened fire on two fellow students. Both were seriously injured, and one boy, Andrel Napper, still has a bullet lodged near his spine.

On a November afternoon in 2001, five-year-old Romel Jenkins, who was on a walk with his family, and 25-year-old Sergio Camargo were killed by stray bullets, caught in the middle of a Bronx gunfight. They were among the 353 who died from guns in the five boroughs that year, the latest for which statistics are available, according to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. "There is no more serious public safety issue for New Yorkers than guns," said John Feinblatt, the city's criminal justice coordinator.

The New York City Council, witness to Davis' shooting in council chambers, is now pushing a series of new gun control laws. But the initiatives don't only seek to tighten New York City's restrictions on gun sales, already some of the toughest in the country. They also would, controversially, provide a way for family members of people killed or injured by guns in New York City to sue the guns' manufacturers for damages.

NEW YORK CITY AND GUNS

Ideas about the best way to end gun violence in New York City have been debated for decades. Just last year, the city began a “Cash for Guns” program; over 2400 guns have been turned in so far. Since 1980, judges in New York state have been required to sentence people convicted of possessing a loaded, illegal gun to at least one year in jail. However, the law has a loophole, and judges who find that one year is “unduly harsh,” can give an alternative sentence; in 2001, less than half of those convicted were sentenced to a full year in jail. Some, like Feinblatt, the city’s justice coordinator, believe that the state government should work to close this loophole, which he said is so big “you could drive a Mack truck through it.”

Reading NYC
Geoffrey Canada's memoir, Fist Stick Knife Gun, is Gotham Gazette's Reading NYC Book Club selection for September -- join us at the Borders bookstore at 100 Broadway (across from Trinity Church) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 24 for a discussion of the book.
But many also see keeping guns from getting to the streets in the first place as a crucial way to stop the violence. "I listen with concern as one suggestion after another is proposed as the one cure-all for dealing with violence among the youth of America. One shot gun buy-backs, tougher sentencing for youth caught with guns, so called boot camp programs, quick-fix conflict meditation, metal detectors in schools - the ideas go on and on while the complexity of the issue of violence is ignored and the death toll continues to rise," writes Harlem Children's Zone director Geoffrey Canada in his memoir about growing up in the Bronx, Fist Stick Knife Gun, "Part of the problem is that most current policy makers fail to address the problem of the sheer availability of guns."

Canada's sentiments are not unusual in New York, where the gun industry wins no popularity contests. In 2000, when the National Rifle Association proposed building a theme restaurant, with grilled wild game and a skeet-shooting arcade in Times Square, residents and politicians slammed the plan, and the City Council overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning it.

That same year, New York state tightened gun laws, raising the minimum age to qualify for a handgun permit to 21, requiring new handguns to have trigger locks and establishing a database that tracks crime guns. The state requires anyone who buys a firearm to undergo a background check.

But despite these tough new laws, guns -- bought from gun dealers in states with looser restrictions -- continue to pour in to New York's streets. Some 80 percent of all guns used in crimes in New York were not purchased here. According to a 2000 report by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, most of the guns came from seven states in the South with weak gun laws. Many New York City crime guns are first bought by people called "straw buyers," who buy in bulk in states with looser gun laws and make a profit by selling guns illegally to northern buyers.

While Askew, councilmember Davis' killer, legally bought his own gun in a North Carolina store, he did not have a permit to carry the gun, a .40 caliber pistol, in New York.

SUING THE SOURCE

Because they cannot change the laws in other states and are doubtful that new federal gun sales restrictions will happen under the Bush administration, New York City gun control advocates and local politicians are now looking to the courts to try to change the way guns are distributed. They are inspired by the successful lawsuits against the tobacco industry and a recent case against the gun industry itself.

In Brooklyn this summer, U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein threw out a major lawsuit against the gun industry, but at the same time found that gun manufacturers have been careless in how they distribute guns, and have put the public at risk.

In the suit, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People argued that 45 gun manufacturers and distributors, including Smith & Wesson Corp. and Glock Inc., know that certain gun dealers follow practices that make the guns they sell more likely to end up harming people in black and Latino neighborhoods, but do nothing to stop them. New York City itself has a case pending in federal court that makes a similar argument, saying that the illegal firearms that end up in New York City are a public nuisance.

The NAACP's lawyer, Elisa Barnes, built her case against the gun manufacturers on information from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that showed the sales histories of guns recovered at crime scenes from 1995 to 2000. The information showed that a small percentage of gun dealers sold guns that quickly ended up in criminal hands; only seven percent of more than 200,000 U.S. gun dealers were responsible for selling all of the crime handguns that, within three years after their sale, were recovered throughout the country.

Barnes argued that the gun companies were aware of this information, and could have avoided selling to these dealers. "Small variations among manufacturers' practices could make a big difference," said Lucy Allen, an economist who analyzed the information for the NAACP. The suit did not ask for money in damages but sought a court injunction that would force manufacturers to change their practices and restrict the ways that they distribute guns.

Gun manufacturers and gun advocates say that companies should not be responsible for the illegal use of a legal product. "There are other things you do with a gun besides kill people," said Amy Heath, from the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association. But in the Brooklyn trial, the judge found that the companies indeed were responsible, and threw out the case only because the NAACP had not effectively argued that its members were uniquely harmed.

MAKING COMPANIES ACCOUNTABLE IN NYC

On the first hearing of the council's public safety committee since the death of James Davis, who was one of the committee members, the council discussed six new gun control bills, including new restrictions on the sales of rifles and shotguns (handguns are controlled by the state legislature). But much of the debate was about turning to the courts to fight for gun control.

Councilmember David Yassky sponsored a bill designed to change how gun manufacturers distribute guns across the country. Intro 197 would make manufacturers whose guns are used to hurt or kill New Yorkers liable, unless they follow a code of conduct. "The gun industry knows exactly what they need to do to prevent these injuries and they ignore it," said Yassky.

The code of conduct includes not selling weapons to dealers whose guns repeatedly end up in criminal hands, and not selling weapons at gun shows where sellers don't use background checks. Yassky has also proposed having the New York Police Department only buy from gun companies that follow a similar code of conduct.

"The cure to the gun violence epidemic lays in making the gun industry liable for its irresponsible, unethical, reckless distribution of guns," said Sara Alcoff, who founded the Brooklyn chapter of the Million Mom March with Johnnymae Robinson, whose son was shot to death in 1999.

At the hearing, Alcoff read a statement from Robinson: "[I am the] mother of three sons, now minus one due to illegal guns running rapid on the streets of NYC... Please help to save a mother the pain of sitting with a person to decide what color coffin or what words need be said to tell the story of one whose life was taken so soon."

A panel of gun advocates said at the hearing that holding gun companies responsible for gun crimes is like saying that a car company is responsible for the deaths caused by a drunk driver. "I can't see how Kahr Arms can be responsible for criminal misuse of its product," said Randall Casseday, a spokesperson for the company, which sells guns to the city's police department.

STRICT LIABILITY

Saying that in New York "there is no safe way to use a handgun," Councilmember Eva Moscowitz introduced a bill that goes even further than Yassky's. Intro 487 would make gun companies strictly liable for damages caused by a gun in New York City, regardless of how the company distributes its guns.

John Feinblatt, the city's criminal justice coordinator, said that, as Moscowitz' law is now written, if a police officer's gun is stolen and used, the gun industry would be liable, as they would be if a gun is used in a suicide. "The threat [of lawsuits] would effectively prevent the gun industry from selling guns in New York City, even to the New York Police Department," said Feinblatt.

FEDERAL IMMUNITY

As the city council discusses making it easier to sue gun companies, lawmakers in Washington are pushing to make gun manufacturers immune from the types of lawsuits brought by the NAACP and New York City. The House of Representatives passed a bill this spring that would make companies immune, and a similar bill, with 54 sponsors, is now in the Senate.

Some gun control advocates worry that Moscowitz' bill, because it is so broad, could backfire. It may become something that supporters of immunity could site as an example of why companies should be protected, said Jim Kessler, director of Americans for Gun Safety. “The Moscowitz bill, I think, gives ammunition to the gun lobby, because it says [those suing the manufacturers] aren’t interested in better behavior, they are interested in putting gun manufacturers out of business,” he said.

The same morning that the mayor's criminal justice coordinator, Feinblatt, was giving his arguments against Moscowitz' bill in the City Council, Mayor Michael Bloomberg sent a letter, along with mayors from Chicago and Los Angeles, to the country's senators, calling on them to oppose the federal immunity legislation.

In his weekly radio show, the mayor said, "You should be able to sue [the manufacturers] and prove to a jury that they acted negligently or recklessly... Everybody wants the murder rate to come down. The only way you are going to get the murder rate down is to get the guns off the street."

 

A Report On Violent Teen Relationships


Children who witness violence between their parents are at the greatest risk for becoming victims of violence themselves in teenage and young adult romantic relationships, according to a 20-year studypublished in the August issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Witnessing violence between parents also increases the chances of a child being a perpetrator of violence in future relationships, and of having serious behavior problems (conduct disorders). And children who have been excessively punished are also significantly at risk for becoming perpetrators of violence against their partners.

 

According to Dr. Miriam K. Ehrensaft, who authored the study with other researchers at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and New York State Psychiatric Institute, it is not surprising that witnessing violence shows up as an indicator on both the victim and perpetrator sides. "Being a perpetrator and being a victim are highly related phenomena," said Ehrensaft.

 

The link between excessive punishment and a tendency toward partner violence later on is a new finding for these researchers. "We knew that punishment was related to kids' aggression in general, and a host of bad outcomes later on," "said Ehrensaft, "but we didn't know the relationship with partner violence."

 

Another significant finding is the route that child abuse takes to show up in partner abuse statistics. "What we figured out from this study is that child abuse works through conduct disorder," explained Ehrensaft" "If a child is abused, they are more likely to develop conduct disorder, and that then puts them in line to be a violent partner."

 

In New York City, approximately 10 percent of domestic violence victims treated at New York City public hospitals are under the age of 20, according to Department of Health statisticsreleased by the Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence.

 

The City's domestic violence hotline received 10,574 calls from teens in 2002, which was up 54 percent from 2001. As of July of this year, they already received 7080 calls, suggesting another spike for 2003.

 

This spike does not necessarily mean that there is more partner violence among teens in New York City than before. It may just be that more of them know where to call. According to the city's domestic violence commissioner Yolanda Jimenez, "Teen hotline calls increased after the City's 1997, 1998 and 2000 public education campaigns directed towards teens, which suggests that the campaign was successful in reaching our target audience."

 

Violent behavior by a partner is highly resistant to treatment, the new study reports, but author Ehrensaft recommends prevention programs for children prior to adolescence, before the use of violence and coercion as a means of resolving conflicts become totally ingrained in the child. These programs would target children exposed to various types of damaging environments.

 

"Most existing dating violence programs aim to change attitudes about violence from men to women," said Ehrensaft. "These are generally successful in changing attitudes but not in reducing actual levels of violence between young dating partners. Also, few programs have followed teens over time to test whether the programs had long term effects."

 

There are several existing programs provided for adolescents in New York City (see accompanying box) and the trend is to target younger and younger children.

 

" The Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violencebelieves that violence prevention programs should begin as early as possible and progress through high school so that abuse does not become an acceptable norm," commented Commissioner Jimenez. "Early violence prevention can break the cycle of violence that leads to teen dating violence and adult domestic violence."

Domestic violence research is still a young field, according to Ehrensaft. "A lot of interventions have gone on using clinical experience and common sense, but only recently are we bringing science into the picture. And we really need that science to go forward and help people, just like with any medical disorder that needs to be backed by science."

Ehrensaft's next research project will likely build on this work, using science to find out what exactly is the process that puts kids with conduct disorder at risk for partner violence "We figured out that child abuse links up to conduct disorder. But we still need to do more research to find out what that process is so we can help those kids--and prevent bad relationships."

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NYC VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH

Adopt-A-School Relationship Abuse Prevention Program ("RAPP") (In pdf format)
In 20 city high schools to promote healthy relationships intervene in the cycle of teen relationship abuse, and work to prevent destructive patterns of relationship abuse from extending into adult relationships.

New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD)
Funds organizations and programs to provide Violence Intervention and Prevention programs targeting youth who are at risk of becoming involved in violence or who have already exhibited violent behavior.

DYCD Youthline 1-800-246-4646
TTY 1-800-246-4699

Youthline is a toll-free 24-hour a day seven days a week confidential and anonymous crisis intervention and resource line for youth, their families and concerned service providers. Youthline has a paid staff of highly trained high school and college students.

The New York City schools have implemented violence prevention programs over the years in various elementary and middle schools. These programs include:

• Second Step developed by Committee for Children based in Seattle, WA

• Resolving Conflict Creatively developed by Educators for Social Responsibility Metro with the New York City Department of Education

• Safe Harbor developed by Safe Horizon

• Speak Your Peace developed by Center Against Domestic Violence (currently in the intermediate School for International Studies)

• Students Advocating Against Violence Initiative (SAAVI)

• Project Charlie

Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center
312 East 94th Street
New York, NY 10128
212-423-3000

STEPS to End Family Violence
1968 Second Avenue
New York NY 10029
212-410-4200
INCLUDES a group for teenage boys who have abused a girlfriend or mother.

Safe Horizon Youth Division
189 Montague Street, 6th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-624-2111 ext. 22

Center Against Domestic Violence
25 Chapel Street, 9th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-254-9143

Children's Aid Society Family Wellness Program
212-503-6837
Offers services for victims, perpetrators and children.

The Door
555 Broome Street
New York, NY 10013
212-941-9090
Serves domestic violence victims ages 12-21
Services in English, Spanish, Chinese

FACES
Maimonides Theater Network for Teens
Maimonides Medical Center
902 48th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11219
718 283 7861
This prevention program has been around for almost 20 years.

Yankee Rep Fork in the Road Players
157 East 3rd Street #D
New York, NY 10009
917 441 4171
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
This is a theater group that performs a play on dating violence in high schools and teen centers.

The NiteStar Program
St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center
St. Luke's Division
1111 Amsterdam Avenue, Scrymser 1
New York, NY 10025
212-523-3599

Hetrick-Martin Institute
2 Astor Place, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10003
212-674-2400
Services for same sex relationships

Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services
120 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
212 582-9100
718-237-1337

Family Violence Hotline
NYU Child Study Center
Excellent program that works with parents of children who are at risk for developing behavior problem.

ART Programs

Additionally, there are organizations that do art with children affected by domestic violence who are in DV or homeless shelters:

  • Art Start Simon Fulford is the executive director 212-966-7807 ext. 1
  • Oyster Arts Caleb Jensen is the executive director 212 475-8900
  • Free Arts for Abused Children Corinne Arles is the Program Director 212 974-9092

(Our thanks to Christina Alex, Research Coordinator at the Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violencewho provided most of this program information.)

Lynda Crawford wrote the social services topic page for Gotham Gazette, and has written for City Limits, New York Woman, The New York Observer, and The New York Daily News.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summertime Unemployment. Also: Kinship Foster Care


For too many New Yorkers, the summer of 2003 has turned out to be the proverbial rainy day. Unemployment remains high, particularly among certain ethnic and age groups. There is a shortage of new jobs, which some unemployed workers blame on public priorities, such as giving federal funds meant for the recovery from 9/11 to residents of luxury housing in Battery Park City, rather using them to create jobs to replace those lost after the disaster.

In the coming year, unskilled job hunters will have fewer resources to help them compete with skilled workers for those vacancies that exist. Low-wage workers will face new hurdles in claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, one of the few tax breaks targeted to the poor. And grandparents trying to raise grandchildren on Social Security checks or part-time paychecks may be better informed about their right to trade their privacy for government income assistance.

UNEMPLOYMENT PERSISTS

The New York State Comptroller’s Office estimates that New York City has lost nearly half of the jobs gained in the eight years of prosperity ending in December 2000. As of May 2003, the unemployment rate for the city had dropped to 8.1 percent, from its February high of 8.8 percent.

Some groups within the city are experiencing much higher unemployment rates. Among the city’s Hispanics, more than a quarter are unemployed, according to a recent poll by CBS and the New York Times. African-American men have lost the highest percentage of jobs since 2000, according to the Community Service Society. Out of every three city teenagers aged 16 to 19 who want to work, one is unemployed; this is almost double the national average. Of adults who have jobs, men aged 45 to 54 are the most likely to be laid off.

USE OF SEPTEMBER 11 FEDERAL AID IS PROTESTED

Unemployed workers protested repeatedly in downtown Manhattan during July and August, against the use of federal grants by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which is distributing the funds to residents of lower Manhattan. The workers called for 60,000 new jobs to be created, using $1.2 billion in federal aid. The corporation has helped distribute $17 billion already to businesses, organizations and residents involved in the rebuilding effort, but has not directly funded job creation.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation controls about $280 million in federal rent subsidies and grants available to downtown residents in the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center. Low-income Chinatown tenants can apply for grants, but many have been rejected because they lack formal written leases or their landlords have failed to repair building violations. The corporation has $50 million left over from these residential funds, with which it plans to subsidize middle-income housing units within future luxury housing developments in the downtown area.

DEEP CUTS MADE TO JOB TRAINING PROGRAMS

Last year, the city had a $151 million budget for job training and employment services. This sum included $57 million in federal Workforce Investment Act funds that the Giuliani administration had failed to spend. This year, the city has only $58 million for job training, and will have to sharply scale back its programs.

On July 16, Mayor Bloomberg formally transferred adult workforce programs from the city’s Department of Employment, which has been eliminated, to the Department of Small Business Services. The three programs transferred include the city’s three existing One-Stop job centers, and a fourth which has not yet been developed; these offer job hunting assistance to all New Yorkers, regardless of income. There is also the Individual Training Account program, which gives job hunters vouchers to pay for training at approved private providers; these have been put on hold until September. Third, the city holds contracts with 39 organizations offering job training and employment services to special populations and dislocated workers. Among others, “special populations” include former prison inmates, people with disabilities, and those with limited English language skills. The contractors have been told that their funds will be cut by two-thirds in the coming year.

THE WORKING POOR GET A SHORT BREATHER

Low-income working people -- such as childless adults earning less than $10,710 in 2002 -- are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, which reduces their federal income tax obligations. The lowest-paid among them get a small check even though they owe, and pay, no taxes at all. The tax credit has become one of the largest sources of federal aid to the poor, with $32 billion in claims for last year. New York City households received $1.2 billion from the tax credit. Currently, one in 64 people who claims the Earned Income Tax Credit is audited.

The Internal Revenue Service believes that one in every three or four claims is not legitimate, often because children whose parents live in separate homes are claimed by both households. The agency announced in June 2002 that it would begin a pilot enforcement program in August 2003, under which 45,000 people would have to prove that their children lived with them for at least half of the year, before they could file claims for the tax credit. Opposition by advocates for the poor led the Internal Revenue Service to postpone the enforcement pilot until January 2004.

Eventually, anyone who files a claim for the Earned Income Tax Credit will have to provide such proof for each child listed as a dependent, except for married parents and single mothers. The requirement will affect grandparents, foster parents, stepparents, and single fathers.

The current application process requires 53 pages of instructions and worksheets. The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs estimates that 230,000 eligible city residents are not claiming the tax credit each year, for a combined loss of nearly $500 million. Many more spend part of the tax credit on the services of tax preparers who fill out the forms.

RED TAPE HOBBLES NONTRADITIONAL FAMILIES

When children live with relatives other than two parents or a mother, their adult guardians face extra paperwork whenever they deal with authorities on behalf of the children. The forthcoming Earned Income Tax Credit demand for proof of the child’s residency, described above, is one such requirement.

Census data indicate that nearly one in four of the grandparents raising grandchildren in New York City is living in poverty. Many raise their children’s offspring with no support from the formal foster care system. Often they are not aware that they qualify for welfare, food stamps and services such as home care, day care, and counseling. Another option that grandparents may not know is that they—or any relative—can apply for formal foster parent status.

Child welfare workers will have to tell grandparents that they can become legal foster parents to their grandchildren, if Governor George Pataki signs a bill recently passed by the state legislature. Grandparents who choose this option receive a monthly stipend for each child, and the legal right to make decisions about the children’s schooling and medical care.

However, some grandparents who know about kinship foster care decide not to get involved with it. If they apply to be legal foster parents, the child welfare system will investigate their background and living situation, and gain the right to take the children away from them for breaking rules that natural parents do not have to follow. Once a child is in state custody—which must happen before grandparents can become foster parents—the system will seek to find a permanent home for him or her. The grandparents will be urged to adopt their grandchild, taking away their own children’s parental rights, or face losing the child to an unrelated adoptive family.

Linda Ostreicher, a former budget analyst for the New York City Council, is a freelance writer and consultant to nonprofits. She is currently on the staff of Bronx Independent Living Services.



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