The Times Union Editorial Board is Correct

It's not often that I agree with the Times Union, but we've finally found some common ground about violence in Albany County.

Today's editorial, entitled “Fix Raise the Age”, echoes the message I've been trying to get across for years; Raise the Age has created an open-carry gun policy for 16 and 17 year olds in New York. Violent felonies are *ROUTINELY* going to Family Court. When violent felonies go to family court, the teens involved often end up back on the street within hours, and they frequently re-offend. 

To stop this cycle, our office *MUST* be allowed to hold dangerous people accountable. 

WE *MUST* ADDRESS THE CONDITIONS THAT ALLOW VIOLENT CRIME TO THRIVE.

Concisely, here are 5 areas where improvements can be made:

1. Change the standard to allow for gun cases to be prosecuted by our office. The current standard is the “display” of a firearm. This needs to be “possession” of a firearm. 
2. Currently, a 16 or 17-year-old who is caught with an automatic weapon, on the way to a drive-by shooting, does not qualify as an “Extraordinary Circumstance”. Therefore, the legislature must create a statutory definition of “Extraordinary Circumstances” that allows gun cases to be prosecuted. 
3. Shift the burden to the DEFENSE to provide mitigating factors to remove a case out of our jurisdiction, to Family Court
4. Create a modality to appeal decisions involving violent crimes in Family Court
5. Allow the Family Court history of an arrestee, including dispositions, to be considered when assessing the appropriateness of Family Court removal.

We need a special session to address this problem, and I need the press to sound the alarm on the seriousness of this issue. 

You can address just one of these shortcomings if you want. You can address all five if you want. But please, state lawmakers, do *SOMETHING* before we lose more Black Lives.