he murders of Police Officers Dillon Stewart and Daniel Enchautegui saddened and angered us during the recent holiday season and we will fight to see that they lead to the maximum possible punishment for the killers. I also intend to lobby city, state and federal legislators for much-needed laws that will deter illegal gun traffic and ensure that this state’s future cop-killers pay with their lives.

The Crimes Against Police Act, signed Dec. 21 by Gov. Pataki with bi-partisan support, was a step in the right direction. That legislation guarantees life without parole for cop-killers, increases the penalty for the attempted murder of a police officer to a minimum of 20 years in prison, and makes the menacing of a cop with a weapon punishable by up to eight years. I also approve of the legislation enacted the same day that makes possession of three illegal guns a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison, makes possession or sale of 10 or more guns punishable by up to 25 years, and makes the sale of just one illegal handgun a felony punishable by up to seven years. Under the old law, possessing up to 19 illegal guns was only a misdemeanor.

As I said, these laws were a good start.

But they don’t go far enough — not in combating illegal gun trafficking or in deterring deadly violence against cops.

As far as illegal guns are concerned, I endorse the measure now before the State Assembly that would ban armor-piercing bullets and put stronger controls on legal gun sales to help prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. We also need strict regulation of assault weapons and federal laws to prevent interstate traffic in illegal guns. The gun that killed Dillon Stewart had been stolen in Florida more than six years ago and had been used in another crime only six months before the police officer was killed with it. In fact, over the past quarter century, 92 percent of all the illegal handguns recovered in New York City came from out of state. That percentage also applies to the nearly 4,000 illegal guns recovered in the city last year. And it was our police officers who risked their lives to recover those guns.

And, as far as cop-killers are concerned, the state’s lawmakers should knuckle down and rewrite the death penalty law to solve the Constitutional issues that have turned it into a useless scrap of legislative paper. Let’s let those who would prey on police officers know that if you so much as threaten a cop with harm you will pay a severe penalty and that if you kill a sworn officer of the law, you will pay with your life.

Let more effective illegal-gun legislation and the death penalty for cop-killers be part of Dillon Stewart’s and Daniel Enchautegui’s enduring legacies.

Pat Lynch
President