New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio may be on his way out, but he’s still the mayor of New York for the time being. That means when violence erupts in his city, as it has been for the last year, people look to him to do something about it.
So far, he’s not done that great of a job.
However, following a shooting in Queens over the weekend that left 10 injured, he’s decided it’s time to focus.
Some 36 hours after 10 people were gunned down in an allegedly gang-related Queens mass shooting, Mayor Bill de Blasio called on Monday for greater NYPD crackdowns to stop street violence.
De Blasio said at his Aug. 2 press briefing he’s dispatched mobile trauma units and translators to Corona, where 10 were shot in the area of 99th Street and 37th Avenue on July 31. While police reported that three victims were connected to street gangs, the other seven victims were mere bystanders who were caught in the hail of gunfire.
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De Blasio said that he expects further efforts to crack down on gangs like a sting operation that took place in the Bronx last week.
He added that the city would be working with community-based leaders and activists “to change the reality on the ground,” along with violence interrupters who work “to stop the retaliation, ending the cycle of violence.”
“They’ll be out there in a big way in that precinct to help move things forward,” de Blasio added.
Before the mayor’s remarks, Governor Andrew Cuomo seemed to take another dig at his long-time rival de Blasio during his Aug. 2 briefing in Midtown Manhattan.
Cuomo claimed that gun violence and crime are “out of control in New York City,” believing that the city is “in a state of political paralysis when it comes to the police issue.”
Of course, one can’t help but wonder how, if this kind of thing works, why it wasn’t started long before now.
I mean, let’s be real here. Most of the homicides in this country tend to be gang-related. If we could make gangs disappear, it would solve a lot of our issues as a nation with regard to crime. So if this is something New York can do that will actually accomplish something, then why in the hell is De Blasio only doing this just now?
And yes, most of the spike in homicides has actually been gang-related. While innocent people are being shot, as happened in Queens, the people shooting are gang members who are targeting other gang members. These aren’t random acts of violence that just erupt out of the blue. They’re targeted.
Frankly, I think the gangs should be targeted by law enforcement to such a degree that they can’t really even breathe, much less shoot at people. Do that and maybe they won’t end up shooting innocent people.
Of course, we also must note that this might be less of a problem if it wasn’t impossible for the average, law-abiding citizen in New York City to carry a firearm for protection. Shooters looking to settle a score might rethink the wisdom of that if a few got popped for deciding to shoot into a crowd in Queens.
Not that De Blasio is even marginally capable of acknowledging that fact.
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