Share This Article
In the wake of a shooting last weekend in Brownsville that left one person dead and triggered calls for NYPD policy changes, Councilmember Alicka Ampry-Samuel says stronger federal gun laws and more local funding for youth intervention programs are what’s really needed.
The shooting on Saturday night after the conclusion of Brownsville’s annual Old Timers’ Day celebration left 11 people injured and had one police union official blaming NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill’s policies for the bloodshed. “We’re losing control and cops are afraid to do anything,” Sergeants Benevolent Association head Ed Mullins told PIX11. “Cops on the street are walking around with their hands tied.” Mullins argued that cops’ authority had been undermined by the widely circulated videos of people dousing officers with water. O’Neill fired back that the union head was a “keyboard gangster.”
For Ampry-Samuel, who represents Brownsville and was at the event when the shooting occurred, that argument missed the real driver of gun violence in places like her district (which, it’s worth noting, had seen a 16 percent drop in index felony crimes through July 21 over the same period in 2018, including a 40 percent reduction in murders and a 27 percent decline in shooting incidents): the supply of and demand for firearms.
“It’s really looking at it on the federal level: access to guns. We are not manufacturing guns in Brownsville, right? So we have guns that are coming into our communities. And that’s because it’s just an open market. You can purchase guns in other states and be able to get it here,” she said on Wednesday’s Max & Murphy Show on WBAI. “On a local level, we need to be able to provide our young people with an incentive to do the right thing. Instead of picking up a gun and having just negativity in your life, provide that young person with something else. Provide them with access to workforce development opportunities. Provide them with training opportunities.”
Listen to the rest of our conversation below, or hear the full show, which includes an interview with Councilmember Brad Lander about comprehensive planning, desegregation and the mayor’s presidential campaign:
Max & Murphy: Alicka Ampry-Samuel Responds to the Old Timers’ Day Shooting
Max & Murphy: Full Show for Wednesday, July 31, 2019
3 Comments
Vincent
The foundation for sociability, civic activism, pride in one’s community, and violence reduction specifically in black communities has not been added to the “cure” violence movement. It’s a 10 to 15-year strategy and the political voices that command the mic will be termed limited out way before then in most cases.
Crystal
Mrs. Samuels said the young people got no jobs. I’m sorry but she didn’t do her homework before doing this interview. NYCHA has provided OSHAR training. Resident associations that do their homework can get info. for their residents. They can go to NYCHA on line and they can speak to their property managers. Meeting with the property managers is in the 964 HUD regulation. Guns don’t come into Brownsville, they are brought there. Guns don’t have legs. Resident leaders don’t work the programs that are in the community like they should. It’s not that there aren’t any programs there. I could go on and on but I’m tried. Mrs. Samuels, you are on the housing committee and I think the safety committee. You’re an intelligent women. Get to know the people u serve.
Terry
CAMERAS ARE NEEDED ESPECIALLY OUTSIDE AROUND THE BROWNVILLE RECREACTIONAL CENTER (BRC).
A LOT OF GOOD COMES OUT OF BRC.
A LOT OF KIDS ARE INVOLVED IN THE PROGRAMS THERE. THE BAND IS GOOD, I LOVE SEEING THEM PRACTICING OUTSIDE.