Assemblyman Chris Tague (R,C,I-Schoharie) today lambasted the governor’s declaration of a “statewide disaster emergency” regarding gun violence in New York. Within the governor’s executive order, he unilaterally suspends numerous laws while earmarking $138.7 million toward programs he believes will reduce gun violence.

Tague has called for the total repeal of the state’s bail reform laws for over a year, which limits a judge’s capacity to use their discretion to issue bail to defendants they know to be a danger to the community. He argues that this law has created a revolving door for dangerous offenders, who are often released back into the public after being arrested due to protections granted to them by bail reform. These criminals often go on to commit more violent crimes in the neighborhoods they are released into.

​“As usual, the governor has ignored the legislative branch and decided he knows how to best solve our problems, ignoring the voices of hundreds of legislators who represent millions of people from throughout New York,” said Tague. “In doing so, he will be throwing even more of our money at fruitless programs that have big budgets and minimal transparency, while ignoring the real cause of rising violence in our state, the tying of our judge’s hands because of bail reform. Preventing judges from making informed decisions about people they know to be dangers to the community is what’s caused this rise in violence, not anybody’s constitutional right to bear arms, which the governor has already infringed upon year after year with no increase in public safety to show for it.”