District Attorney David Soares and new challenger Roger Cusick are at odds over an old issue: gun violence.

Cusick promised Tuesday that if elected, his office would almost never offer plea bargains in gun cases.

Plea bargains enable defendants to admit guilt to lower offenses in exchange for lesser penalties. In a statement, Cusick ruled them out “to anyone who uses a gun while committing a crime in Albany County, or is caught possessing an illegal gun.”

His only exception was for cases involving youthful offenders.

Cusick, a Republican, lost to Soares in 2004, but re-emerged in August as an 11th-hour candidate under the GOP-hatched “Integrity Party.” The party was created by the Republicans as a last-ditch effort to create a new ballot line for its candidate.

His release Tuesday, which ripped Soares’ record, came as the Democratic district attorney and the Rev. Charlie Muller held a “Labor Day Back to School Bash” at Livingston Park.

The event offered $150 “gift cards” in exchange for handguns returned.

Soares also brought in a special visitor, Seth Franco, formerly of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.

Source: Times Union