Combating gun violence around the state. That's the call from advocates at a rally held Tuesday at the state Capitol. It comes as officials in Western New York continue investigating a violent weekend.
Six people were shot and killed in Rochester over the weekend. Six teens were shot in Buffalo at a party, and a 14-year-old girl died. And Tuesday morning, a man was shot and killed outside a Buffalo bar.
During an annual day of advocacy at the state Capitol, some looked to strengthen existing legislation in New York by throwing their weight behind a new policy they say is designed to hold gun manufacturers more accountable.
“Glock, we’re coming for you,” said Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages.
State lawmakers rallied with members of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action. The group is taking aim at gun manufacturers, namely Glock, who they say make firearms susceptible to illegal modifications.
State Senator Zellnor Myrie said, “They’ve put their profit over the lives of our people every single day.”
“Right now, all it takes is $25 to get a piece of plastic and a screwdriver that turns these handguns effectively into machine guns,” said Moms Demand Action Executive Director Angela Ferrell-Zabala.
It’s commonly known as a “Glock switch,” or just “switch,” a plastic piece that enables a 30-round magazine to be unloaded in less than three seconds from what is otherwise a traditional semi-automatic firearm, capable of firing only one bullet each time the trigger is pulled.
A few years ago, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Agent Sean Martineck demonstrated a “Glock switch” for Spectrum News 1’s Wendy Wright.
“What we see is bullets flying all over neighborhoods and into houses,” he said. “It's not a good combination.”
A forthcoming proposal from Solages and Myrie would prohibit the sale of semi-automatic pistols that can be modified in this manner.
“If you cannot fix your product to keep our communities safe, then you cannot do business in the state of New York,” Myrie said.
Armed with stories of how gun violence has impacted their lives, advocates hope to convince lawmakers to sign on.
“There are mothers like me that are broken, that don’t have their children ever again,” said Yanely Henriquez, who lost her young daughter in 2022 in a random act of gun violence. “We need to come together as a village to make sure these companies are held responsible.”
Spectrum News 1 reached out to Glock, the manufacturer these advocates have taken issue with to see whether it had anything to say about the proposal. There was no response.