N.Y.’S goal: To stand up to hate
Hochul aims to boost “red flag” law, fight domestic terror, curb radicalization
Gov. Kathy Hochul, in response to the recent racially motivated massacre in Buffalo, pledged to confront head-on white supremacy and domestic terrorism, study violent speech on the internet, investigate any social media companies that facilitated the suspect’s actions and broaden oversight around guns, including who can be issued a “red flag ” prohibiting firearm possession.
“Let that be the city that’s known as the place where people said, ‘Enough is enough’ and they did something,” Hochul said in Manhattan on Wednesday as she laid out her policy plan. “We’re doing something. We’re doing something right now. That’s my promise to New Yorkers.”
Hochul characterized white supremacy as the “most serious threat we face as a nation.” In one of two executive orders the governor signed Wednesday, she called for the state Division of Homeland Security
and Emergency Services to create for the “first time ever” a unit within the Office of Counterterrorism exclusively for “preventing domestic terrorism.”
The new unit is intended to develop best practices and training for law enforcement, mental health professionals and school officials to address the rise in domestic violent extremism as well as monitoring social media to be able to “intervene in the radicalization process,” according to the executive order. It also directs the State Police to specifically track domestic extremism and monitor social media through the New York State Intelligence Center.
“My own state is going to lead in the surveillance of social media hate speech that’s out there and find out if it’s ultimately going to be weaponized,” Hochul said. “So that we can prevent the next mass shooting.”
Hochul added: “We’re watching you now. We know what you’re up to and we’ll be coming after you.”
New York already has an established intelligence center that’s run by the State Police and has both social media consultants and analysts who are tasked with monitoring online platforms to search for indications of potential acts of terrorism, including mass shootings.
It’s unclear whether the New York State Intelligence Center (NYSIC), which has its headquarters in the Capital Region, had been involved with or was monitoring any online activity of the 18year-old suspect in the Buffalo shooting.
In Hochul’s State of the State address, she said State Police’s current efforts in monitoring social media “only scratch the surface of what is possible to detect and interdict.” She called to expand the state’s existing “social media analysis unit” by staffing a team of analysts to monitor publicly available social media activity, including posts related to school violence threats, gang activity and illegal firearms.
Later in the month, when Hochul made remarks at the first meeting of the Interstate Task Force on Illegal Guns, she also referenced some of that social media intelligence work.
“We have more money going out there to hire more social media analysts. This way we can find out early on what trends are out there,” the governor said in January. “What are people talking about? What’s the chatter? And perhaps identify individuals who are on the cusp of purchasing guns or trafficking in guns, or even committing crimes. So that’s going to be very helpful.”
The governor’s office did not immediately return requests for comment on the difference between the unit announced on Wednesday and existing teams.
Each county in the state is also being directed to develop plans to identify and confront threats of domestic terrorism by the end of the year, according to the executive order.
The governor also directed the State Police to be required to file an application for an emergency risk-protection order, to pursue a “red flag ” for a person who seeks to buy or currently owns a gun when they believe the person is “likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm” either to themselves or others.
Hochul also would like the Legislature broaden the automatic red flag reporting requirements to include all law enforcement and potentially school officials or mental health professionals. The Times Union reported Tuesday that legislators are considering the action in the remaining days of session, which is scheduled to end June 2.
Regardless of whether someone is reported to be a perceived violent threat to own a gun, a judge would still need to agree to the terms and find the person’s circumstances meet the standards of the law.
In the case of the Conklin shooter, Payton Gendron — following a threat he made a year ago about a murder-suicide following graduation from high school — law enforcement in his community chose to pursue a different chapter of the state’s mental hygiene law, one that is typically used for people who appear suicidal.
Under that law, Gendron was sent for a mental health evaluation because he appeared to be mentally ill and conducting himself in a way that is likely to result in serious harm to himself or others.
A mental health professional found that he did not meet the criteria for psychiatric commitment, which would have barred him — without need for a red flag application — from purchasing the gun that he allegedly used in the mass shooting. The orders and proposed legislation from Hochul on Wednesday do not address that piece of the law.
Hochul also noted that she wants to “shame” Congress into passing stricter gun laws. Gendron was able to militarize the weapon he legally purchased in New York with a separate purchase in Pennsylvania. Weaker gun laws in other states and nationally are “thwarting” New York’s efforts to limit gun violence, she said.
The governor is also pushing bills to speed up the processing of guns used in a crime scene, push changes to background checks and outlaw certain guns that can be modified into a military-styled weapon.
In addition, the governor wants an investigation of the social media companies that Gendron apparently used in the leadup to the shooting and to then livestream the massacre.
“We need to respect individual First Amendment rights, but when individuals use online platforms to promote and plan gun violence, it raises questions about the role of social media platforms in the promotion of gun violence,” Hochul wrote to state Attorney General Letitia James in a letter Wednesday.
The letter directed James to pursue an investigation. on specific platforms used to “broadcast and amplify the acts and intentions of the mass shooting” and “determine whether specific companies have civil or criminal liability for their role in promoting, facilitating or providing a platform to plan and promote violence.”
James said her office will be investigating, adding that the “terror attack again revealed the depths and dangers of these platforms that spread and promote hate without consequences.”
Among the companies Hochul directed James, under state law, to investigate were Twitch, 4chan, 8chan and Discord. The gunman’s accounts have been found on the platform Discord, according to media reports. He commented on Discord that he intentionally lied during a mental health evaluation to avoid certain repercussions, like not being able to own a gun.
Discord’s website states safety principles.
“We don’t sit back and simply wait for reports, but instead act to protect everyone on the platform,” Discord states. “We know that there are cases where bad actors are acting to cause violence or harm in the real world, and we make it clear to them that there’s no place for them on Discord.”