Bloody Summer in New York: The Failure of the Mayor’s Anti-Gun Policy

Since becoming mayor of New York in 2002, Bloomberg has made “anti-gun” policies his main strategy for curbing violence in the city.

He put into place a very controversial policy called “stop-and-frisk,” which allows a police officer to stop and search any individual suspected of hiding a gun.

The problem is that the results have not been forthcoming. The hot summer season is generally accompanied by a rise in violence in New York, but the figures of recent weeks have surpassed the most alarming estimates.

According to police, 12 people were victims of gunshot wounds on just the night of July 4, Independence Day, and 17 the entire day — three people died. This was the peak of an equally bloody week when 77 people were the victims of shootings, of which 21 died, mainly in certain Brooklyn and Bronx neighborhoods.

These figures are up from the same week last year when 60 people were victims of shootings, of which 18 died, according to The New York Post.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has described this week as an “aberration.” But since the beginning of January, the police have recorded a 10 percent rise in gun injuries compared to last year. When questioned by journalists about possible solutions, the mayor, obviously irritated, repeated that he would make every possible effort to reduce crime and the circulation of firearms.

Controversy Around “Stop-and-Frisk”

His embarrassment is understandable. Since the establishment of “stop-and-frisk” in 2002, citizen searches have risen by about 600 percent — from 97,000 in 2002 to almost 700,000 in 2011. This is not without affecting cohesion among New Yorkers. According to the New York Civil Liberties Union 80 percent of the people interrogated are Latino and African-American while these two communities only represent 54 percent of the population.

Their representatives denounce an inefficient and discriminatory law enforcement policy while pointing out that only 10 percent of “stop-and-frisk” incidents have led to charges up until now.

The New York Times testified to these excesses in an article this weekend about a young African-American man who claims to have been stopped by police more than 60 times before turning 18.

Lately, several judges have dismissed charges on the grounds of unjustified arrests. This was a setback for the New York Police Department and the mayor, who have decided to defend their policy at all costs.

Bloomberg Defends the Police

During a press conference in Harlem last week, New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly denounced the wait and see attitude of the communities who are more inclined to criticize the work of police rather than react. He affirmed that “… 96 percent of shooting victims are people of color …”

In June, the New York Civil Liberties Union, an New York association that defends civil liberties, filed a class action lawsuit in federal court for civil rights violations by the police and organized a silent march in Manhattan, bringing together several thousand people from all communities, asking for reform of the law.

While the mayor has recognized the need to improve the “stop-and-frisk” policy, he doesn’t appreciate the criticism leveled against the New York Police Department and said so loudly and clearly during a speech given in Queens, an area with a significant Latino population.

He also compared the New York Civil Liberties Union to the National Rifle Association, accusing it of defending an ideology rather than wanting to save lives.