Res 0120-2014

By Council Members Williams, Chin, Johnson, Levine, Torres, Rosenthal and Mendez Whereas, According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, on average, 32 Americans were murdered with guns every day and 140 were treated for gun assault in an emergency room on average from 2008 to 2011; and Whereas, In New York City in particular, 57 percent of all murders in 2012 were attributed to gun violence; and Whereas, Moreover, there were nearly 1,374 shooting incidents, where a person was injured either fatally or non-fatally, in New York City in 2012; and Whereas, David Hemenway, Professor of Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Director of Harvard's Injury Control Research Center and Youth Prevention Center, has stated that the mission of public health is the attainment of positive physical, mental and social well-being; and Whereas, Recent research conducted by urbanologist Richard Florida suggests that while stringent gun control laws reduce gun violence, these laws do not address poverty, which is a major indicator of high gun violence rates; and Whereas, In New York City, gun violence is a problem that disproportionately impacts certain neighborhoods and populations; and Whereas, For example, approximately half of all shooting incidents in 2012 occurred in only 10 of the City's 76 police precincts; and Whereas, These precincts are located in the City's most economically distressed communities; and Whereas, There is a direct correlation between social economic status and health outcomes; and Whereas, Infant mortality, obesity and diabetes are disproportionately high in the precincts where the highest concentration of shooting incidents in 2012 occurred; and Whereas, In 2010, gunshot wounds and deaths, along with court proceedings and hospitalizations paid for by government health programs, cost American tax payers at least $12 billion, according to the Detroit Free Press; and Whereas, It is therefore necessary for the City of New York to undertake a comprehensive gun violence prevention plan in order to reduce, the physical, mental and emotional cost of gun violence, as well as the cost of caring for victims of gun violence which is often passed on to tax payers; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the Mayor to direct the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the New York City Human Resources Administration/Department of Social Services to develop and implement a comprehensive interdisciplinary response to gun violence. PD 3/4/14 Res. No. 1812/2013 LS#169/2014