By: Ilana Siyance
On Monday , New York City Mayor Eric Adams lauded members of the US Senate for rolling out gun safety legislation, following two mass shooting and a spike in gun violence.
As reported by the NY Post, the mayor praised federal lawmakers’ efforts but added that there is sill more to be done here in the Big Apple to keep the city safe. “I take my hat off to Senator [Chuck] Schumer and the 10 Republicans,” Adams said in an appearance on Fox 5’s ‘Good Day New York’. “There are many rivers that feed the sea of violence, particularly gun violence, in our city and our nation, and this is just damming one river,” the mayor explained. “We have so many more rivers to dam, and if we don’t, we’re going to see the continuation of this violence.”
Adams bemoaned the recent shootings in New York City, that took place in broad daylight. “The days of waiting for darkness to carry out these dangerous acts are over,” he told morning show hosts Rosanna Scotto and Bianca Peters. He also pointed a finger to the lenient bail-reform laws passed by the state.
“[There are] too many guns on our streets, too many dangerous people returning to our streets after shooting guns, and just the willingness to shoot without fear of reprisal or repercussions from the criminal justice system.” Adams has urged lawmakers to curb gun violence by making “targeted amendments” to the state’s 2019 bail reform law, as well as to the Raise the Age legislation which increased the age of criminal responsibility from 16 up to 18.
NYPD data from earlier this month shows there were 118 shootings in May — down from 172 in 2021. Still, the figure is alarmingly higher than the 61 shootings reported in May 2019, prior to the Coronavirus pandemic. Aside from the overall violence, there were two mass shootings in May, including 19 children and 2 teachers killed at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and the supermarket shooting in Buffalo, New York, which left 10 people dead.
Adams’ remarks come after a bipartisan group of senators announced on Sunday that they reached an agreement for legislation that would provide a framework for gun control. The deal included 10 Republican senators , allowing the legislation to pass despite the divided chamber. As per the Post, the agreement includes framework which encourages states to enact red-flag laws, to expand mental health services in all 50 states. If the bill is passed, it’ll also permit searches of juvenile records, and escalate funding for school security and mental health programs.
The deal does not include bans against assault weapons, or any increases to the age requirements for buying semi-automatic rifles. A proposal to up the age for purchasing assault weapons to 21 was ultimately rejected. On Monday, speaking from the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said “we have a lot of work to do”, acceding that the task is far from complete. He said the legislation “doesn’t have everything we wanted” but would be “the most significant” on guns “in decades.”