By Howard Koplowitz
Following three recent shootings, City Councilman Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach), hoping to unseat state Sen. Serphin Matlese (R-Glendale) in November, criticized Republicans in Albany during a news conference last week for not doing enough to strengthen state gun laws.
He was joined at the press event outside the Blue Lane Car Service in Ozone Park by gun violence advocates and members of the Taxi Workers Alliance.
“Obviously, the illegal gun issue has been a major issue over the last couple of months,” Addabbo said.
While the councilman lauded Mayor Michael Bloomberg's effort to combat gun violence, he said Republican state lawmakers have dropped the ball.
“I personally feel Albany has been lacking in their efforts,” Addabbo said, noting that two gun-related bills passed the state Assembly but never made it to the floor of the Republican-led Senate. “We need to get serious at illegal guns and gun violence.”
He said Maltese specifically voted against an ban on assault weapons from 2003 to 2006 and voted for legislation to ease licensing laws in 1997 and 1998.
The senator said in a statement that Addabbo was misrepresenting his record.
“It is unfortunate that Joe Addabbo continues his attempt to mislead the voters with information that is factually incorrect.'”
In the statement, Maltese cited laws that ban assault weapons and require locking devices to protect children but did not say how he voted.
One of the bills in Albany that Addabbo said the Senate has not addressed deal with a technology called microstamping, which would assign ID numbers to individual gun cartridges to help solve gun crimes.
His comments came in the wake of three crimes involving illegal guns in the span of five days.
Enois Malbranche, an Elmhurst cab driver, was blinded after he was shot in the face in Brooklyn Aug. 22. Three days later, an 18-year-old woman was raped and robbed in Ozone Park Aug. 25. On Aug. 27, a cab driver was assaulted with a gun in the Bronx.
Malbranche was expected to speak at the news conference, but had to go to the hospital because of medical problems related to the shooting, according to Bhairavi Desai, the Taxi Workers Alliance executive director.
Desai called the need for tougher gun legislation “a life and death issue” and said taxi drivers are 60 times more likely to be killed on the job than other professions.
“We are becoming disproportionally affected and targeted,” she said.
Bill Lindauer, an Astoria resident and former cab driver now with the Taxi Workers Alliance, said cabbies are constantly in fear of their safety.
“Taxi drivers are continually nervous and they have every right to be,” he said. “It's the most dangerous job in America.”
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
