“Today’s announcement of a declaration of a first-in-nation gun violence state of emergency shows the failure of New York’s priorities. Gun violence is out of control, in our community and across our state, and while ending the violence on our streets and in our neighborhoods should be the number one priority of every elected leader, allowing the governor to once again have unilateral control to address a crisis is not the answer.

“We must address the violence happening on our streets, empower law enforcement, protect and defend law-abiding citizens, pursue criminals, and keep them off the streets. What we should not be doing is giving more executive powers and a blank check to solve this crisis.”