REMARKS
Council Member Bottcher introduces legislation requiring graphic warnings in gun stores
1:24:34
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135 sec
Council Member Erik Bottcher mourns the loss of Carlos Carineo and introduces new legislation requiring gun stores to display graphic imagery and warning signage about the dangers of firearm ownership.
He cites statistics on gun-related deaths and emphasizes the need for public health messaging at the point of sale for firearms.
- The legislation aims to make gun purchasers aware that firearms in the home are more likely to cause harm than be used for self-defense.
- Bottcher hopes this initiative in New York City will lead to similar efforts across the United States.
- He thanks his staff and others who helped make the legislation possible.
Erik Bottcher
1:24:34
I also wanna add my voice, mourning the loss of Carlos Carineo.
1:24:40
We worked together a few feet away from each other in the community outreach unit back at the beginning of my career in 2009, and He is it's a huge, huge loss for the council.
1:24:54
His smile, his laugh, his great work on our behalf will be missed.
1:25:02
Over 40,000 over 43,000 people died from gun related injuries in the United States in 2023.
1:25:13
And gun violence has recently surpassed car accidents as the number one cause of death for American children.
1:25:21
I can't think of a deadlier consumer product that requires no public health messaging at the point of sale.
1:25:32
Many, if not most, of the purchasers of the millions of guns every year, and so far this year, 1,400,000 people have purchased firearms every month in 2024.
1:25:45
Most, if not, most of these purchasers are likely not aware that the gun that they're bringing into their home is more likely to kill someone in the home than to be used for self defense.
1:25:57
So today we're introducing for the first time in the United States legislation that will require gun stores to display graphic imagery in addition to warning written warning signage that conveys the dangers of firearm ownership.
1:26:13
The graphics could depict scenarios such as a young child reaching for a gun in an unsecured door.
1:26:22
It'll be accompanied by warning language and I am hopeful and I believe that one day, when every gun store in the United States has written warning language over the counter in those stores, we'll be able to look back today in New York City as a day that we started this effort.
1:26:42
I wanna thank Hannah Moses and Carl Wilson and my staff, Jessica Bouley at the