US President Joe Biden speaks about gun violence prevention in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 8, 2021.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
President Joe Biden will visit New York City next week to discuss strategies to address gun crime with Mayor Eric Adams, the White House said Wednesday.
The announcement came a day after a second New York Police officer died from a shooting that occurred when he and his partner responded to a domestic violence call in Manhattan.
The White House said Biden will join the new mayor on February 3 “to discuss the Administration’s comprehensive strategy to combat gun crime, which includes historic levels of funding for cities and states to put more cops on the beat and invest in community violence prevention and intervention programs, as well as stepped up federal law enforcement efforts against illegal gun traffickers.”
Adams recently released a “Blueprint to End Gun Violence,” which begins by saying, “New York City has been tested to its core in the first month of 2022.”
“These weeks have been among the most violent in recent memory, most of it caused by a crisis of
gun violence that continues to plague our communities,” the document says.
It calls for putting more NYPD officers on patrol, enhancing existing public safety teams, expanding a partnership between city police and the State Police, and implementing checkpoints for guns at city bus and train stations.
The New York Daily News on Jan. 1 reported that there were 1,562 shooting incidents reported by the NYPD in 2021, which was 30 more such incidents than were reported in 2020. The number of reported murders in the Big Apple was 485 last year, a whopping 52% increase since 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic, the News noted.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks to members of the media at Harlem Hospital on January 21, 2022 in New York City.
Alexi J. Rosenfeld | Getty Images
Last Friday, NYPD officers Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera responded to a 911 call about a woman in Harlem having an argument with her adult son, according to cops.
The son, Lashawn McNeil, allegedly shot both officers when they walked toward a bedroom where he was. The 22-year-old Rivera died shortly afterward.
McNeil, 47, was shot by a third cop, and died Monday.
The 27-year-old Mora died Tuesday.
Police recovered a .45-caliber Glock semi-automatic pistol with a high-capacity magazine from the shooting scene, and said the weapon had been reported stolen from Baltimore.
Adams, who is a former NYPD cop, said Monday, “Gun violence has inflicted a heartbreaking tragedy on our city.”
“We must turn that pain into purpose. We’re fighting back against gun violence and building communities where every resident feels safe,” Adams said.
Shortly after the White House announced Biden’s planned visit to New York, the National Association for Gun Rights said that it sued the city of San Jose, Calif., to “challenge a new ordinance passed by the San Jose City Council which forces gun owners to purchase liability insurance and pay an annual fee to own firearms.”
