OPINION: Combating gun violence in Brooklyn, beyond
Last month, a growing number of cities across the nation participated in Gun Violence Awareness Month with community activists as well as elected officials hosting rallies, town hall meetings and a range of activities all aimed at combating gun violence. But now that the curtains have gone down on this vital concentrated effort, the question of “What’s next?” remains.
Nationally, at least 32,000 people a year are killed by guns. As such, gun-related violence and deaths have become not just a public safety issue, but also a public health concern. In fact, firearms remain the only consumer product not regulated by the federal government for health and safety compliance, yet more and more Americans are dying from guns than automobile accidents year after year.
In New York City, gun violence is a major problem every day of the year and not just during the Labor Day weekend, as some would erroneously have us believe. My position is that the problem is not our parades, nor our block parties or our nightlife scene. Not even guns per se — though I wholeheartedly support sensible gun control laws as indicated by my vote in favor of New York’s Safe Act in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting. Unlike rural and suburban communities whose tales of gun violence follow a script of isolated outbursts of assault weapon fueled aggression, in New York City and urban centers across the nation, the story of gun violence is one of constant and horrific systematic deconstruction of already marginalized communities.