‘Enough is Enough.’ Meeting New York City Mayor, Biden Pledges Progress in Fight Against Gun Violence
Throughout a Thursday assembly with New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams, President Joe Biden introduced actions for investing in policing and neighborhood intervention packages in response to the surge in gun violence in recent times that has impacted many cities throughout the nation, together with New York Metropolis.
“Sufficient is sufficient,” Biden stated.
Gun violence deaths have elevated since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic started. There was a major rise from 2019 to 2020, when murders rose by almost 30%. Many cities are nonetheless experiencing record-breaking murder numbers. To this point this 12 months, there have been 94 taking pictures incidents in New York Metropolis, in comparison with 71 in the identical interval final 12 months.
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Through the dialogue, which featured the leaders from throughout town and New York state, Biden and Adams mentioned intervention and prevention strategies for coping with gun violence, in addition to methods to curtail the move of unlawful weapons into impacted communities. Earlier within the day, for instance, the Division of Justice had introduced a brand new nationwide ghost gun initiative to crack down on the weapons’ use in crimes. “[President Biden] is right here as a result of he is aware of what the American folks need: justice, security and prosperity,” Adams stated.
“The reply is to not abandon our streets,” Biden stated. “The reply is to come back collectively, police and communities, constructing belief and making us all safer.”
In a press assertion launched the identical day, Biden reiterated his requires Congress to approve an funding of $300 million to fund the hiring of extra neighborhood law enforcement officials and $200 million for “evidence-based neighborhood violence interventions.”
“The President is aware of a fancy and devastating problem just like the surge of gun crime we’ve seen over the past two years requires an formidable, evidence-based response that makes use of each instrument at our disposal,” the assertion reads, “and that’s precisely what his plan does.”
Learn extra: America’s Policing System Is Damaged. It’s Time to Radically Rethink Public Security
This assembly was per week after Adams introduced a “blueprint” to deal with gun violence in New York Metropolis. Whereas his plan featured some extra community-oriented plans, it positioned a robust—and, some have argued, stronger—emphasis on policing and different regulation enforcement methods. As well as, Adams referred to as for extra collaboration will the federal authorities, one thing Biden burdened throughout their assembly dialogue in the present day.
“I need to assist each main metropolis comply with New York’s lead… on a regular basis right here in New York Metropolis, federal, state and native enforcement meet to share intelligence about arrests and shootings from the day earlier than and work to take these shooters off the road as quickly as doable,” Biden stated.
However in following New York’s lead, activists stay involved that Biden can be too centered on policing, even when framed as “neighborhood policing.” That is notably the case given the administration’s failure to cross the George Floyd Policing Act, proposed laws to deal with policing practices and regulation enforcement accountability; the New York Occasions reported simply earlier this week that the White Home had been working to shore up a “potential breach… brewing for months” between the Biden administration and police leaders.
“Adams’ strategy to gun violence isn’t aligned with what we’ve been led to imagine are Biden’s approaches. Biden dedicated to ending issues that Adams desires to embrace,” Scott Roberts, Senior Director of Felony Justice Campaigns at Colour of Change, a nonprofit civil rights group, says. “It looks like he’s attempting to embrace Adams’ strategy. That’s regarding.”
