NEWYORK: New York city Mayor Eric Adams said that guns are the leading cause of death among ages 1 to 17.
Speaking at event with regard to gun regulations, Mayor Adams said that firearms suicides among young people ages 10 to 24 is the highest rate in 20 years. The over proliferation of guns in our community really impacts us.
“It breaks our heart. I spoke with the dad who was the victim of the shotgun death to his child, and he was traumatized. He was traumatized and just trying to find some type of rationale as his son told him about his plans he wants to do in the future, how he would like to go on to become a lawyer, and how excited he was. It’s unimaginable for any of us that, if you have children, of just getting that call, that call is so chilling. I remember after the death of, after we buried Detective Jonathan Diller, going up to the Bronx, that same, after the funeral, going to the Bronx where a two-year-old was shot. It’s just, you never change if you are a parent. It’s never normalized. You never really recover.”
“We often spend a lot of time talking about the gun violence that takes place on our streets, and we sometimes through delegation and with Congressman Goldman saying, and those who are watching this, and if you have guns at home, get safe locks, get storage. Really think about the inquisitive nature of a child to pick up a gun, and oftentimes they don’t realize the seriousness of it because the gun culture is all around us. Video games to television programs, they don’t realize the sensitivity of this,” he said.
Mayor Adams said that this is such an important, simple step we can take. “We’re proud to do so, and it is important for us to realize that when you think about it, guns are the leading cause of death among ages 1 to 17. Firearms suicides among young people ages 10 to 24 is the highest rate in 20 years. The over proliferation of guns in our community really impacts us,” he said.
“As we look at Gun Safety Awareness Month, this is an additional step we can take. A simple letter, a simple notification, a simple communication would make parents who have guns in their homes think differently. Then when you look at the Supreme Court ruling that is going to encourage, we must think how this can impact our families. When we know that we give people the tools that they need, they’re able to safeguard their weapons and safeguard the lives of their loved ones,” Mayor Adams said.
“We are really pleased and enthusiastically behind this piece of legislation. We’re going to do our job, Congressman, and I’m going to thank our educators that are here for 22 years and 32 years in the school system. These educators do more than ensure that our children are academically smart. They make sure that they’re safe. They see the tragedies. They have to go back into schools and explain when a child is lost prematurely to violence. It traumatizes the whole school,” he said.
“This is why we’re doing this great job, Congressman Goldman, Congressman Frost, and whatever we’re going to do, we want to be partners with you on this,” he added.
U.S. Representative Daniel Goldman said that we talk a lot about gun safety legislation, gun safety regulation, common sense laws that will simply make America safer and will help to minimize the scourge of gun violence that we see around our country every day. There are many other ways that we can tackle the gun violence epidemic, and one of them is safe storage, safe firearms storage.
“The vast majority of school shooters, about three quarters, get their weapons from family members at home. 4.6 million children live in homes with loaded and unlocked guns, and that’s why safe gun storage is so important to stop unintentional gun firings. Safe storage lowers the chances of children being shot by 85 percent,” he said.
“There are 350 children under the age of 18 who either unintentionally shoot themselves or others with a firearm every year. That’s almost one per day. 70 percent of those incidents happen at home, and just within this last week in Brownsville in New York City, we have experienced a similar tragic gun accident where a 12-year-old fired on a 14-year-old cousin and killed him. The majority of children who commit suicide do so with a family member’s gun, and more than three quarters, as I mentioned, are school shooters,” he said.
U.S Representative Maxwell Frost from Floida’s 10th congressional district said that he was really proud to be here for this announcement. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or Republican, bullets don’t discriminate.
“No matter if you’re white, Black, Latino, rich, poor, bullets don’t discriminate. The sad reality is that we lose 100 lives a day due to senseless gun violence. Too many of us have seen our communities and even our families personally touched by this. Gun violence, like it was mentioned, is the leading cause of death for children in this country. I like to put it bluntly for people watching at home, if God forbid you lost your child, the leading reason in this country is because of a bullet,” he said.
