Guest Op-Ed: Lessons never learned; Protect our children

By John J. Ciafone, Esq.

Almost weekly, we hear about gun violence in our schools.

The massacres that have occurred in our schools whether it be Uvalde, New Mexico or Sandy Hook, Connecticut – not to mention college incidents, have not raised the eyebrows of our elected officials to move forward toward action.

Gun control legislation is not enough. We need metal detectors in all our schools. 

Whether you go to a sports game, a concert or any major event, you are expected to go through metal detectors as a matter of course.

Yet, why don’t we have metal detectors in our schools? Metal detectors are relatively inexpensive and extremely effective in catching guns and knives.

Gangs that prey on our children bring these weapons into our schools to further initiate and recruit naive children. 

A middle school in my neighborhood, IS 126 in Long Island City, housed a cache of confiscated guns and knives in the principal’s office, under lock and key, all in an effort to keep it secret. How many more children have to be slaughtered and sacrificed by our leaders who fail to protect our most precious assets – our children and the future generation. 

I proudly served on Community School Board 30 as a member, treasurer and president.

During my time, we fought for more school safety officers, security cameras and police presence outside troubled schools. 

Through the devastation of the Sept. 11 attacks, we have learned the importance of metal detectors and screening within our airports that have resulted in a huge success in thwarting hijacking and terrorist attacks on our planes. 

The same efforts must be employed in our schools to prevent guns and knives from threatening the lives of our children, staff and teachers.

What’s more alarming is that some City Councilmembers, who have police protection and metal detectors in City Hall, want to remove school safety officers in our schools. 

I am shocked that the Teacher’s Union, which is perhaps the strongest lobbyist in New York, has no interest in protecting our children or their own members. 

We have a major upcoming election ahead of us and yet no candidate is speaking about protecting our children and our schools. 

At a minimum, our elected officials have an obligation and duty for the position that they were elected for and that is to protect our children, who are our future.

Elected officials need to wake up and do their jobs to be proactive and prevent any future tragedies. 

Another shooting

Dear Editor,
The latest mass shooting outside a Florida banquet hall killed two people and injured another 20. When will Congress come to a viable agreement to stem the continued gun violence across the country?
Much stricter gun laws must be passed and enforced at the local, state and federal levels.
Law enforcement and police departments across the country are doing their very best to stop these shootings, but until there is more support from government, there is only so much the police and other law enforcement agencies are able to do.
No civilian needs to possess military-grade weapons. Gun shops around the country need to tighten the requirements for someone purchasing a weapon. Mentally ill people should never be allowed to purchase a weapon.
Our country is being turned into a shooting gallery.
Sincerely,
John Amato
Fresh Meadows

City bracing for a summer of violence

If Memorial Day weekend is any indication, it looks like it’s going to be a bloody summer in the city.
On Monday night alone, a teenager was killed and eight others were injured in incidents across the five boroughs. That’s on top of several other acts of violence over the weekend.
Police sources were quoted in published reports saying crime would have been a lot worse over the weekend if the weather hadn’t been so awful.
In other words, as the calendar turns to summer we can expect the violence to get much worse.
This is on top of the spike in hate crimes, primarily directed at the Asian community. On Monday, another woman was randomly punched in front of a restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
The city is trying to address the growing violence, from flooding troubled neighborhoods with extra police to employing community groups to try to stop the shooting before it starts, but it doesn’t seem to be working.
The de Blasio administration and the NYPD will have to get creative if New Yorkers are going to feel safe walking the streets this summer.
But residents need to do their part, too, when they can. If you see something suspicious or witness an act of violence, make sure you come forward and help our officers get the dangerous elements off our streets.

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