Gov. Kathy Hochul approved a new law requiring schools to consider installing a silent, panic-alarm system on Thursday, June 23. Approval of what’s known as “Alyssa’s Law” comes in the wake of several mass shootings, which have made many elected officials consider more strict gun safety and school safety laws.

 

Andy Pallotta, president of New York State United Teachers, believes the new provision in school safety plans will quell some of the anxiety students and teachers feel about whether they can be safe in the classroom. “Well, I think that we are in a position where we support anything that can make students feel safer and staff feel safer,” Pallotta explained. “And then, the entire community feel that everything is being done to keep their schools as safe as possible. So, this makes sense.”

 

The bill passed unanimously. The law is named for Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old who lost her life in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. Pallotta thinks after hearing input from students, parents and teachers, school districts across the state will find ways to adopt new methods to urgently call first responders.

 

“In a state like New York, which just came through with a very good budget for education, I think that there are ways they can come up with different methods of making this happen,” Pallotta contended.

 

New York is the third state to approve Alyssa’s Law, following its approval in New Jersey and Florida in 2019 and 2020, respectively. It has also been submitted for votes in the state legislatures of Arizona, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia, as well as a national version in the U.S. House of Representatives.

 

Meanwhile, on the same day, to the dismay of many, the Supreme Court of the United States voted 6-3 to strike down an existing New York gun-control law that required individuals to show “proper cause” to get a license to carry a concealed handgun outside the home.

 

Norwood News recently reported on how a high school student was found to be in possession of a gun in a Harlem school on June 7, causing the school to go into lockdown, while separately, we reported on a non-fatal shooting outside P.S. 8 in Bedford Park, prompting residents to request the expansion of outside cameras in the vicinity of all schools in Bronx Community Board 7, something that is not only needed to capture and potentially prevent shootings, but also to track speeding offenders in school zones.

 

As reported on May 23,  New York City Department of Transportation officials confirmed to Norwood News that a new “24/7 Speed Camera Agreement” would expand the hours of operation of cameras in school zones from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., to 24 hours, seven days a week. DOT officials clarified, however, that this expansion just related to the expansion of the hours of usage of the cameras, and that the department would still only be operating with the same number of cameras, which they said was within a radius of 750 schools zones across the City, employing roughly 2,000 cameras. The camera bills (S.5602B/A.10438) were formally signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday, June 24.

During the latest June Bronx Community Board 7 public safety meeting and general meeting, it was discussed that not every school has outside cameras in place, however, which was the reason why a letter was requested to be sent to elected officials to request funding for additional cameras outside all public schools in Bronx Community Board 7. The point regarding funding for cameras [and metal detectors in schools] was also raised by Norwood News with Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15) during a townhall on June 17, which he organized to discuss the latest draft of the pending federal, bipartisan gun legislation compromise.

 

Torres addressed these two issues, saying, “The framework that’s been announced in the [U.S.] Senate will include investments in mental health and in school safety, which could potentially go toward the expansion of cameras in schools. So, that could be part of the broader framework for gun safety. Look, if there’s a school that has been found to be dangerous, there might be a need to install metal detectors, but I would have concerns about installing metal detectors in every school. I think it should be done on an as needed basis. I’m not clear that it should be the default in every school, because you don’t want our students to feel like prisoners. They should feel like students.”

 

He added, “It’s an option that should be pursued as a last resort, but the red flag laws that we’re putting in place would enable teachers and parents to go to court and confiscate guns from anyone who’s too dangerous, and certainly the funding for school safety, some of it, could go toward cameras in schools.”

 

In respect of the red flag laws, the congressman continued, saying, “If you and I find an individual who has no clearly defined mental illness, but who has been posting comments on social media about perpetrating mass shootings, or killing people of a particular race or religion, then we can present that evidence to a judge who then can issue an order to confiscate the guns of the dangerous person who’s making these threats. So, the red flag laws allow us to be much more proactive and preventative with respect to gun violence.”

 

Torres also provided an overview of the broader aspects of the bipartisan legislation, saying, “As many of you know, ten Democrats and ten Republicans announced a new framework for gun safety that could potentially survive the filibuster in the [U.S.] Senate. Not every member of the House is committed to voting for the compromise, but I certainly will because I see it as the best opportunity we’ve had in decades to move the ball forward on gun safety.”

 

He said in the mass shootings seen to date, there are two notable common threads. “First, the mass shooters tend to be under the age of 21, young men,” Torres said. “The mass shooters in both Uvalde [TX] and Buffalo [NY] were 18 years of age. A second is the weapon of choice for mass shootings tends to be the AR 15. In rational worlds, both chambers of Congress would pass legislation that would mandate universal background checks and ban AR 15 assault rifles and high capacity magazines.”

 

However, the congressman continued, saying, “But, none of those proposals could ever survive a filibuster in the Senate, and so the compromise represents the best way forward. In the short term, I support it for three notable reasons. First, it would enhance background checks for those under the age of 21, which is the age cohort that’s at greatest risk of perpetrating mass shootings. The enhanced background check would include a review of one’s mental health history, and one’s juvenile record, and I do believe it would have a real impact in saving lives and in preventing guns from falling into the hands of dangerous people.”

 

He said, secondly, the compromise would close what has been described as the ‘boyfriend loophole’. “So, federal law prohibits domestic abusers, those who are convicted of domestic violence or those who are subject to a domestic violence restraining order. Federal law prohibits those abusers from possessing or purchasing a firearm,” he said. “Federal law defines domestic abusers as those who are married to a victim, or live with the victim, or the parent of a victim’s child. Here’s the problem, the federal definition fails to include intimate partners and dating partners, and so, the compromise would expand the ban on firearms for domestic abusers to include intimate and dating partners, thereby closing the boyfriend loophole.”

 

The last point related to what the congressman had mentioned regarding red flag laws and prevention, whereby the compromise would not establish a federal red flag law, but it would provide federal incentives for states to adopt their own red flag laws. “Here’s one of the challenges that we face,” he said. “You know if there is an individual who has no clearly diagnosable mental illness, but who clearly poses a risk of perpetrating a mass shooting? What do you do with the individual? If there’s no mental illness, then there’s no basis for confining the individual, or there’s no basis for involuntary commitment on the basis of mental health. So what do you do with the individual? And the answer to that question is red flag laws.”

 

 

He said the laws enable the courts to issue orders that confiscate the guns of those who would have been deemed by a court and by mental health professionals to be too dangerous to carry a firearm. “So, enhancing background checks for those under the age of 21, and closing the boyfriend loophole, and promoting red flag laws across the country, the combination of these three proposals, I believe, will have a real impact on saving lives and in promoting gun safety, and for those reasons, I will vote for a compromise if we were to come to the floor for a vote in the House of Representatives.”

 

Torres later gave his reaction to the SCOTUS decision on June 23, saying, “The Supreme Court’s decision will deepen the crisis of gun violence in New York City and beyond. Striking down the proper cause requirement, as the Supreme Court has done, means allowing the average person a right to carry a gun in public, even in a city as densely populated as New York. Life as we know it in New York could be radically reshaped – for the worse.”

 

He also said that the bipartisan compromise, though useful, falls short on confronting gun violence in cities. “More federal intervention is needed to address the iron pipeline and keep guns from crossing state lines,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, on the SCOTUS decision, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on June 23, “We just received some very disturbing news from Washington; that the Supreme Court of the United States of America has stripped away the State of New York’s right and responsibility to protect its citizens with a decision – which we are still digesting – which is frightful in its scope of how they are setting back this nation and our ability to protect our citizens, back to the days of our founding fathers, and the language we’re reading is shocking.”

 

She said the law in question [requiring individuals to show “proper cause” to get a license to carry a concealed handgun outside the home] had been in place since the early 1900s, and added in part, “As governor of the State of New York, my number one priority is to keep New Yorkers safe, but today the Supreme Court is sending us backwards in our efforts to protect families and prevent gun violence, and it’s particularly painful that this came down at this moment. We are still dealing with families in pain from mass shootings that have occurred; the loss of life of their beloved children and grandchildren.”

 

Hochul said if the federal government would not have sweeping laws to protect citizens, then the states and the governors would have a moral responsibility to do what they could, and put such laws in place to protect citizens “because of what is going on – the insanity of the gun culture that has now possessed everyone all the way up to even to the Supreme Court.”

 

She said New York should have the ability to determine who is eligible to have a concealed carry permit. “This is not an ordinary permit, this is a special use that you can hide [it] from people,” the governor said. “We have limitations, if it’s for a proper cause; someone who’s been threatened, someone who needs it for their job as a security guard. We have classifications where it is allowed and has been allowed for over a hundred years.”

 

She added, “We do not need people entering our subways, our restaurants, our movie theaters with concealed weapons. We don’t need more guns on our streets. We’re already dealing with a major gun violence crisis. We don’t need to add more fuel to this fire. This is New York. We don’t back down, we fight back, and we’ll be alerting the public, the media in the very short term of exactly what our language is that we’ve been analyzing. We have language we’d like to now enact into law. We’ll be sharing that with the leaders.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, joined by Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado and Mayor Eric Adams, announces new speed camera legislation for school zones on Thursday, June 23, 2022 at a New York school. Video courtesy of Gov. Kathy Hochul via YouTube

 

Referring to a dark day in the country’s history, Hochul asked, “We’re supposed to go back to what was in place since 1788 when the Constitution of United States America was ratified? And I would like to point out to the Supreme Court justices that the only weapons at that time were muskets. I’m prepared to go back to muskets. I don’t think they envision the high capacity assault weapon magazines intended for battlefields as being covered from this, but I guess we’re just going to have to disagree.”

 

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark also weighed in on the topic, saying, “The Supreme Court’s decision puts the rights of those wanting to carry a concealed gun at odds with the safety concerns in our community. It jeopardizes law enforcement efforts to prevent illegal gun possession and address violent crime. Local jurisdictions should determine firearm licensing requirements tailored to their own unique public safety needs, and that is what New York’s law has done for over a century.”

 

Clark added, “We are fighting a gun violence epidemic in The Bronx and across the nation. This decision makes it easier to carry firearms in public places, which will inevitably lead to more gunfire in our communities. We will work within the bounds of existing laws to stem gun violence; and we will continue to do everything we can to prosecute those who bring illegal guns to The Bronx.”

 

State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (S.D. 34), who is currently running for Congress in NY-17, said of the decision, “In the last month, we have mourned for Buffalo, Uvalde, Philadelphia, Chattanooga, and countless other shootings in communities across our nation. Today, the Supreme Court has made the incredibly dangerous and irresponsible decision to overturn New York’s concealed carry law. This ruling will have disastrous effects nationwide–leaving millions vulnerable in the face of gun violence. Rather than rule in favor of safety for countless Americans, the Supreme Court has callously sided with the gun lobby and corporate interests.”

 

She continued, “The Supreme Court’s politicization is undeniable. The Court has continuously ruled to preserve and protect conservative values over the safety and wellbeing of the American public. Democrats must use their full power to counter this politicization and build a Court that prioritizes our civil liberties and fundamental rights. It’s time to expand the Court.”

 

Biaggi concluded, saying, “Let me be abundantly clear: while this ruling is both disturbing and terrifying, it is not surprising. We have seen this Court’s political proclivity overshadow their constitutional oath to administer justice. I stand at the ready for a special session of the New York State Legislature to counter this ruling and enact the strongest protections possible to keep our communities safe.”

 

Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said of the gun-control issue, “At a time when our families and communities are mourning the deaths of loved ones and neighbors killed as a result of senseless gun violence, the U.S. Supreme Court has callously decided during Gun Violence Awareness Month to strike down New York State’s licensing restrictions for concealed weapons.”

 

She continued, “This comes as a shock to so many of us who marched and rallied – even amid a global pandemic — to advocate for common-sense gun control legislation to protect our communities from the plague of incessant gun violence. [The] decision is a fundamental attack on public safety and I hope that our State Legislators will take legislative action to ensure that our residents are protected from unscrupulous laws that have the potential to place more New Yorkers statewide in harm’s way.”

 

On June 23, at the in-person 52nd Precinct Community Council meeting held at North Central Bronx hospital, Deputy Inspector Jeremy Scheublin, the precinct commander, did not appear to be overly optimistic about slowing the tide of gun violence, particularly in light of the latest news.

 

Tracey Towers Tenants Organization president, Jean Hill, said during the meeting, “I had one quick question for the [deputy] inspector. Of course, the Supreme Court came out today with this carry law, the concealed carry law and they struck down New York State’s law, so am I supposed to be signing up to get that gun permit and order my Glock? How are we going to handle this?”

 

Scheublin responded, amid some good-natured laughs from those present, saying, “If anybody should be allowed to have one, it should be you Ms. Jean… I didn’t want to have to say that. So, I have to say I’m personally not entirely familiar with how this is going to roll out and exactly what the law is, but we will follow up with you in regards to that. One thing I can say is that this, for a fact, 20 years in The Bronx, in the NYPD, is that the more guns that are in the street, the more violence, and that’s without getting politically involved in anything. The more guns that are out there, the more violence we tend to see.”

 

On Friday, June 24, The New York Daily News reported that Hochul will call State legislators back to Albany next week to discuss the SCOTUS conceal carry ruling.

 

 

*David Greene contributed to this story.