Record haul of guns seized in New York

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the largest seizure of illegal weapons in the city’s history yesterday, with authorities indicting 19 people on allegations of involvement in gun trafficking from North and South Carolina to New York.

A total of 254 illegal firearms were seized as a result of an undercover investigation involving numerous city agencies, including the New York Police Department.

“New York is the safest big city in the nation, but year after year, illegal guns flow into our city from states that don’t have common-sense laws that keep guns out of the hands of criminals,” Mr Bloomberg, who is one of the country’s most vocal advocates of gun control, said.

According to figures from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives provided by the Mayor’s office, the number of out-of-state guns being used in crimes in New York City has been rising in recent years, climbing from 85 per cent in 2009 to 90 per cent in 2011.

Separately, the push for greater gun control a suffered a setback on Friday after New Jersey’s Republican Governor, Chris Christie, vetoed three gun control measures, including a version of a weapons ban he had backed only months ago. This was ahead of a possible run for the GOP’s Presidential nomination in 2016.