Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that a new law (S.3340/A.5873) designed to enhance safeguards afforded by the State’s Red Flag Law is now effective. Beginning today, courts across New York State must notify the statewide registry of orders of protection and warrants when judges issue a temporary and/or final extreme risk order of protection. This notification codifies what courts were doing in practice and aims to ensure that these orders don’t fall through the cracks. Courts statewide have ordered nearly 14,000 temporary and permanent Extreme Risk Protection Orders through February 3, 2025 — more than 12 times the number of orders issued before Governor Hochul took decisive action to strengthen State law following the racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo on May 14, 2022. Governor Hochul previously signed the legislation on October 9, 2024 as part of a package of bills aimed at reducing gun violence and strengthening New York’s nation leading gun laws.
“Public safety is my number one priority — that’s why I signed legislation strengthening our Red Flag Laws to keep weapons away from individuals who are a risk to themselves and others,” Governor Hochul said. “By empowering law enforcement and judges to take action, we’re getting guns off our streets and making our communities safer.”
A gunman motivated by hate murdered 10 individuals, physically injured three others and terrorized a community when he drove more than 200 miles to commit an act of mass violence at the Tops Supermarket on Buffalo’s East Side. Three days after that horrific act, Governor Hochul issued Executive Order 19, directing the New York State Police to seek an ERPO when there is probable cause to believe an individual is likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to themselves, or others, as defined in the State’s Mental Hygiene Law.
Less than a month later on July 6, 2022, Governor Hochul signed a law requiring all police departments, sheriffs’ offices and district attorneys’ offices to file an ERPO petition under the same standard in State law used by the State Police. This law also expanded the list of who is eligible to file for an ERPO to include health care practitioners who have examined an individual within the last six months and required reports by mental health practitioners about potentially harmful individuals to be considered closely when determining whether to issue a firearm license.
From August 25, 2019, through December 31, 2019, courts across the State ordered 148 temporary or permanent orders. Those numbers less than doubled for the 2020 (252 ERPOs) and 2021 (286 ERPOs) calendar years. ERPOs issued by courts increased nearly tenfold after the Governor and Legislature acted in 2022, with 2,363 orders issued that year. In 2024 alone, the number of ERPOs issued statewide totaled 5,357.
In addition to strengthening State laws to keep firearms away from those who pose a danger to themselves and others, Governor Hochul has bolstered the State’s efforts to remove illegal guns from communities and provided record-level funding to law enforcement agencies and community organizations on the front lines of the State’s fight against gun violence.
Law enforcement agencies across the state seized 9,408 firearms, including 769 ghost guns, last year.
Since taking office, Governor Hochul has provided record-level funding to State agencies, local law enforcement, and community-based organizations to address the pandemic-era surge in gun violence and that investment has paid dividends.
Gun violence in communities participating in the state’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) initiative declined to its lowest level on record last year. New York State began tracking this data in communities outside of New York City in 2006. Shooting incidents with injury declined 28 percent in 2024 compared to 2023, and the number of individuals injured declined 25 percent, with 238 fewer people harmed by gunfire.
The Governor’s FY26 Executive Budget includes $370 million to continue the State’s multifaceted approach to reducing shootings and saving lives. That funding supports local and State law enforcement initiatives, youth employment programs and nonprofit organizations that serve and support individuals and families, and strengthen communities, including but not limited to:
- $50 million through the Law Enforcement Technology grant program, which provides funding so police departments and sheriffs’ offices can purchase new equipment and technology to modernize their operations and more effectively solve and prevent crime.
- $36 million for GIVE, which funds the 28 police departments and district attorneys’ offices, probation departments, and sheriffs’ offices in 21 counties outside of New York City.
- $21 million for the SNUG Street Outreach Program, which operates in 14 communities across the State: Albany, the Bronx, Buffalo, Hempstead, Mount Vernon, Newburgh, Niagara Falls, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, Syracuse, Troy, Utica, Wyandanch and Yonkers. The program uses a public health approach to address gun violence by identifying the source, interrupting transmission, and treating individuals, families and communities affected by the violence.
- $18 million in continued support for the State’s unique, nationally recognized Crime Analysis Center Network, and $13 million in new funding to establish the New York State Crime Analysis and Joint Special Operations Command Headquarters, a strategic information, technical assistance and training hub for 11 Centers in the State’s network, and enhance existing partnerships and expand information sharing with the New York State Intelligence Center operated by the State Police, the locally run Nassau County Lead Development Center, and the State’s Joint Security Operations Center, which focuses on protecting the State from cyber threats.
At the same time, the Governor’s FY26 Executive Budget proposal recognizes the equal importance of expanding services to victims and survivors of crime. Among the Governor’s proposals to increase support provided by the State Office of Victim Services are to:
- Create a Mass Violence Crisis Response Team to ensure rapid, coordinated support that addresses the immediate needs of victims, survivors and communities in the aftermath of such events.
- Increase existing limits on crime victim compensation for the cost of burial and funeral expenses from $6,000 to $12,000.
- Eliminate the requirement to consider contributing conduct in death claims, which currently can reduce the amount of money OVS can provide for burial expenses, as well as other crime-related costs, including counseling, loss of support, and other assistance family members may need following a loved one’s death.
- Expand eligibility for access to funding to pay for crime scene cleanup costs.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said, “Extreme risk protection orders are a critical tool in protecting New Yorkers from gun violence, and this legislation will give the courts and law enforcement the tools they need to help keep people safe. Thank you to the Assembly sponsor of this legislation, my friend and colleague Assemblymember Charles Lavine, for all his hard work on this. Here in New York and in the Assembly Majority, we have fought for commonsense legislation like this to address the scourge of gun violence in our communities. We will continue working together with our partners in government to strengthen the laws we have in place, keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals and address the root causes of gun violence.”
State Senator Shelley B. Mayer said, “I am very pleased that starting today, New Yorkers will be safer, as law enforcement throughout New York will have easier access to critical public safety information, thanks to the bill I sponsored that modernizes the state’s process for filing extreme risk protection orders. Police officers can now quickly see if someone has an outstanding ERPO and better protect victims who face an ongoing risk of violence from someone in their life –– and those who pose a risk to themselves. I thank my colleagues in the legislature and Governor Hochul for their commitment to keeping New Yorkers safe.”
Assemblymember Charles Lavine said, “Thanks to Governor Hochul’s strong leadership we are making progress in the fight against gun violence. In addition to this new law which I am confident will save lives, I am encouraged to see the increasing number of ghost guns being taken off the streets. This is a direct result of my ghost guns bill which is doing what it was intended to do, that is to keep our communities safe.”