MidHudson News is reporting that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo July 6 said that if New Yorkers could defeat COVID-19, they could also defeat gun violence, as he was declaring war on the menace, which is especially devastating to black and brown communities. The governor made his remarks after signing legislation declaring gun violence a disaster emergency. “If you can beat COVID, you can beat gun violence, you can beat poverty, you can beat drug abuse; you can beat whatever you want to beat. We just have to want to do it,” he said to an audience of community leaders at John Jay College in New York City. The plan ranges from providing alternatives for young people to avoid street crime, such as jobs and recreational activities; mapping and targeting high-crime areas; getting illegal guns off the streets; intervening with victims right at hospitals with interveners like with the SNUG program — SNUG is GUNS spelled backward. The plan also includes proposals for community engagement; and building police-community relations. Cuomo committed $138 million in state funds to the effort. In recent months, gun violence has been on the rise in the Hudson Valley in Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Kingston, Monticello, New Rochelle, and Yonkers. Read the full story at midhudsonnews [dot] com.