The mayor of New York, Eric Adams, asked the US federal government for help on Friday to stop arms trafficking to his city, where the sale of firearms is severely restricted, unlike other states.
In a press conference called in reaction to the shooting that took place today in Harlem and left a police officer dead and another injured in critical condition, Adams recalled that weapons are not manufactured in New York, but that does not prevent “thousands of weapons” from being confiscated in the city, and thousands more continue to arrive.
“We need Washington’s help to help stop the flow of guns here, and in other cities,” since their existence in cities where they are not legal demonstrates “a failure of the federal government.”
“Weapons on the street are a threat to our security,” he insisted.
The sale and carrying of weapons, protected by the US Constitution in its second amendment, is the subject of permanent debate, but no government has managed to curb the enormous power of the arms lobby organized around the National Rifle Association (NRA).
The Obama administration clashed with the NRA to limit gun ownership, but his successor Donald Trump blocked all of Obama’s initiatives in this regard.
Nineteen states and the District of Columbia impose restrictions on the possession of certain types of weapons, and courts across the country have repeatedly ruled in favor of age-based restrictions in order to deter crime and promote public safety.
Today’s shooting, in which the man who shot the police officers – and who had a long criminal record – also died, is the third armed incident with victims among the police in just one week after on Tuesday and Thursday another two officers were wounded by gunshots in two separate incidents, on Staten Island, and in Brooklyn.
Added to these incidents are two other crimes that occurred the previous week, the first in a Burger King store, where one of the workers was shot to death by a robber, and the second in the New York subway, when a homeless man pushed onto the tracks, for no apparent reason, a 40-year-old woman who was on the platform at the time the train entered the station.