November 8, 2010

Syracuse trick-or-treaters got a real scare this Halloween when two shooting incidents left four young people injured, one of them critically. A 14-year-old suspect in one case faces assault and illegal weapon charges.

A week before Halloween, a 27-year-old man was shot and killing during an alleged robbery attempt in the city. A 17-year-old turned himself in four days later. At about the same time, a 19-year-old shooter convicted in the “payback” killing of a 22-year-old he didn’t even know was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison — plus 15 years for using an illegal gun.

Teenagers lose their cool over what might seem trivial things — clothes, food, romance, “respect,” revenge. Learning to deal with strong feelings is part of growing up. But when guns are involved, everything changes.

Police have been trying to get illegal guns off Syracuse’s streets for years. The last gun-buyback program in 2009 removed at least 77 handguns from circulation, many of them unlicensed.

But there never seems to be a shortage of firearms. The suspect in the fatal shooting Oct. 24 told police he used a gang’s “community gun.” The alleged 14-year-old shooter’s handgun was reported stolen in Spafford in June.

Within the past month, Syracuse police filed 33 reports of “shots fired,” and 14 people were injured by gunfire. Alert police work has produced real results. But more must be done to stop gun violence before it erupts.

Syracuse is about to launch Operation Snug (“Guns” spelled backwards), aimed at breaking the vicious cycle of retaliatory violence. Groups seeking solutions that work include Mayors Against Illegal Guns (Syracuse’s Stephanie Miner is a member) and Legislators Against Illegal Guns (state Sen. Eric Schneiderman, elected attorney general Nov. 2, is a co-founder).

Only seven states, including New York, require gun owners to report lost or stolen weapons. Some 600,000 guns go missing each year nationwide, and dealers report at least 30,000 more guns disappear from their inventories.

Illegal guns pour into New York from states with lax gun controls. But Congress has hobbled crackdowns on disreputable gun dealers and police efforts to trace illegal guns used in violent crimes. The Senate’s inexcusable delay in approving a director of the federal firearms bureau underscores how beholden Congress is to the gun lobby.

This isn’t about eroding gun rights. It’s about preventing hot-headed kids on the streets of Syracuse from getting and using illegal weapons. That’s a nonpartisan goal leaders at all levels should agree on — and act on.