8 C R Y D E Rop-edP O I N TDEC/JAN GUN VIOLENCE IS A Inquiring Photographer: NATIONAL EPIDEMIC What is your New BY MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG Year’s resolution? EDITOR’S NOTE: The following are Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s remarks as delivered at City Hall: BY SWEETINA KAKAR Since last Friday’s tragedy in Connecticut, dozens of grieving parents and grandparents, and an entire deeply wounded community, now know the kind of anguish that these people with me have endured. What happened in Newtown was an unspeakable crime – a mass mur- der in which six- and seven-year-old children were gunned down in their classrooms, along with their elementary school teachers and administrators. To all those who lost loved ones: our hearts are broken and our prayers certainly are with you. Last night, the President said he would use whatever powers his office holds to address this violence, and I think it is critical that he do so. Words alone cannot heal our nation. Only action can do that. Gun violence is a national epidemic – and a national tragedy – that de- To try to Get better To be more of a mands more than words. We are the only industrialized country that has this stop smoking. grades. thoughtful person. problem. In the whole world, the only one. That’s why we need immediate national action, from the President and Alice Fierro Anna Ducrosset Leslie Foxson from Congress. It should be at the top of their agenda because what hap- pened at Sandy Hook Elementary School was, sadly, no aberration. Gun violence takes the lives of 34 Americans every single day. That means that during President Obama’s next four-year term, some 48,000 Americans will be killed with guns. That’s roughly the number of Ameri- cans that died in the Vietnam War. And since 1968, when RFK and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated, roughly 400,000 Americans have been killed with guns, which is more Americans than died in World War II. They will leave behind mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, friends and neigh- bors, like those with us today, whose lives are devastated by loss. The President spoke out visibly on gun violence after the mass shoot- ing in Tucson two years ago. Yet since those shootings happened, more than 24,100 Americans have been murdered with guns. If the massacre in Tucson wasn’t enough to make our national leaders act, and if the more re- To keep my To keep To live in the mo- cent bloodshed in Aurora, Colorado, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in Portland, health. That’s my peace. ment more. Oregon and other cities and towns wasn’t enough, perhaps this slaughter of first priority- innocents at Sandy Hook Elementary School will, at long last, be enough. my health, wife Madeline Bullaro Yassi Somen Millions of Americans hope that’s true. But it’s not enough for us to and daughter. hope. We have to speak up.There are three major pieces of legislation that the President should push Congress to pass. Let me point out that one of the Tom Bullaro few acts related to firearms that Congress has passed in recent years was to immunize firearms manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits brought by CRYDER POINT Cryder Point Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd. those injured with guns. Bayside, NY 11361 First, Congress should pass the Fix Gun Checks Act, which would close the “private sale loophole” that allows more than 40 percent of gun sales to 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 go through without a background check. It would require every gun buyer to • T h e O f f i c i a l N e w s p a p e r o f C r y d e r P o i n t • Sales Fax: 718-631-3498 pass a background check. This bill would also require states and the federal “We’re All About You” e-mail: [email protected] government to send all necessary records on felons, domestic abusers, the seriously mentally ill, and other dangerous people to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Publisher & editor Victoria Schneps-Yunis Art director Jennifer Decio Second, it is time to pass an enforceable and effective assault weapons AssociAte Publisher Joshua A. Schneps Artists Stephen Reina, Nirmal Singh, ban – one that isn’t riddled with loopholes and easy evasion. A previous ban expired in 2004, and even though President Bush supported reinstating it, editor in chief Toni Cimino Ron Torina, Cheryl Gallagher Congress never acted. That must change. And third, the President and Congress should work together to make Entire Contents Copyright 2013 by the Cryder Point Courier. All letters sent to CRYDER POINTCOURIERshould be brief and gun trafficking a felony – as Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Congressmember as affiliation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Only letters with a name given will be accepted. No suchWriters should include a full address and home and office telephone numbers, where available, as wellare subject to condensing. Carolyn Maloney, and others have proposed. ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of CRYDER POINT COURIER. The publishers will not be We urge the President to include all three of these steps in any legislative responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Errors must be reported toCRYDER package he sends to Congress. And we urge him to assemble a legislative POINTCOURIER assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and allwithin five days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. CRYDERCOURIERPOINT package quickly – so that gun violence can be the first order of business that replies. 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