The execution of two New York City Police officers on December 20 has sparked a fresh debate in the U.S. on the right to bear arms and refocused attention on the efforts led by Michael Bloomberg, the city’s former mayor, to impose stricter gun control measures.
Gun control is one of the most antagonistic political divides splintering the U.S., an emotionally volatile issue where constitutional rights and public safety concerns intersect in the most personal of ways, AP said.
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Conservative website Breibart.com claimed on December 20 that the execution shows that gun control has no effect on those who intend to commit crimes.
“Regardless of the fact that New York has some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation and New York City, thanks to Michael Bloomberg, has additional stringent gun laws in place, suspected murderer Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley was able to walk up behind the squad car of the two officers and kill them in cold blood, ” it said.
“This is the very kind of act which gun control is supposed to prevent but in fact, enables, by creating an environment where it’s easier for criminals to be armed than for citizens and where police continue to face individuals armed with bad intent, ” it said.
Meanwhile, an article in The Virginian-Pilot on December 21 focused on Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe’s push for Bloomberg-style gun control measures.
Some of the measures seem to make sense, but the gun control package has little chance of passing the state’s general assembly, according to the article.
The report alleged that Bloomberg always blamed Virginia for gun violence in the Big Apple, claiming that many gun crimes in the city were committed with weapons purchased in the state.
“It’s a pity that New York’s gun restrictions have created a flourishing black market in weapons. But it’s simplistic to blame Virginia. Deranged sociopaths, such as the one who shot and killed two New York City police officers in broad daylight Saturday, will always find guns, ” the report said.
Meanwhile, AP released a feature story on Erica Smegielski, the daughter of the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School who died trying to protect her staff from a shooter on a murderous rampage in December 2012.
Smegielski channeled her grief into a mission that in a year’s time would transform her into a nationally recognized face of the gun control movement, the report said.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns, founded and largely funded by Bloomberg, hired Smegielski. The organization has since merged with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and changed its name to Everytown for Gun Safety, AP said.
Smegielski said the organization focuses on expanded background checks because “every law enforcement officer and every study done says that is the single fastest and most effective way to save as many people as possible, ” the report said.
