NY Gov. Hochul announces gun control executive orders after Buffalo shooting

New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday signed executive orders implementing more gun control in response to the Buffalo shooting that left 10 people dead.

"Today, I issued Executive Orders to devote substantial resources and focus toward combating the troubling surge in domestic terrorism by identifying radicalized individuals and tracking their threats amplified on social media, and further empower State Police to keep guns away from dangerous people," she wrote in a press release.

She also sent a letter urging New York Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the role of social media in the Buffalo shooting.

Hochul's first executive order establishes a domestic terrorism unit under the state's Office of Counter Terrorism.

Her other executive order expands New York's Red Flag Law by requiring state police to seize firearms more aggressively. 

Police are classifying 18-year-old Payton Grendon's alleged rampage as a hate crime because 11 of the 13 people shot were black.

The suspect threatened to commit a mass shooting at his high school last year, authorities state. However, New York's current Red Flag Law did not prevent Grendon from legally obtaining firearms.

"The horrific and despicable act of terror committed by a white supremacist this past weekend in Buffalo showed that we as a country are facing an intersection of two crises: the mainstreaming of hate speech - including white nationalism, racism and white supremacy - and the easy access to military-style weapons and magazines," Hochul said.