36 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 5, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
36 The Queens Courier • OCTOBER 5, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com
THE QUEENS
editorial
sun
WWW.COURIERSUN.COM
PUBLISHER & EDITOR
CO-PUBLISHER
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA
ART DIRECTOR
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
STAFF REPORTERS
CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS
ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER
CLASSIFIED MANAGER
CONTROLLER
PRESIDENT & CEO
VICE PRESIDENT
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
BOB BRENNAN
ROBERT POZARYCKI
AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ
NIRMAL SINGH
EMILY DAVENPORT
KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA
SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI
DEBORAH CUSICK
CELESTE ALAMIN
MARIA VALENCIA
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361
718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441
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What will we do with the outrage?
Each week, we try to keep this space as local as possible. What we’re going
through as a country, however, is an extraordinary time of peril. It would be
irresponsible of us not to consider and comment on the current national climate
— particularly our gun culture — from a local perspective.
Th e Oct. 1 massacre in Las Vegas shakes us to the very core. By simple
math, we should be used to mass shootings by now. We’ve seen so many of
them in the national news over the last 20 years; there have been more than
200 mass shootings this year alone. Yet this latest massacre — with more than
60 dead and over 500 injured from a hail of sniper’s bullets — disturbs and
shocks us profoundly unlike any similar shooting to have occurred in recent
memory.
It could have very easily happened here. Queens has hundreds of outdoor
concerts every summer in all diff erent venues. Th ousands attend these concerts
to have a good time; they go through tight security to keep everyone
safe. Not even security could stop what happened in Vegas, as a sniper from
a building close rained death upon people whose only sin was being in the
wrong place at the wrong time.
Th e latest massacre again spurs calls for greater gun regulation — and, naturally,
the “thoughts and prayers” of those resistant of any kind of gun control.
Th ey used fl awed logic to rationalize the insanity; they claim that we
shouldn’t bother with more regulations because criminals will break the law
anyway. Th ere are laws for everything; should they all be abolished because
people break them? Of course not.
Other critics point out that local gun regulations haven’t stopped the fl ow
of guns to Queens and other parts of our state. Th at isn’t for lack of our trying;
rather, it’s a symptom of an obviously broken federal law that enables
people to buy guns in states with very lax weapons laws, then smuggle them
into New York.
All this bloodshed over the last decade is shameful, easily preventable and
yet impossible to avoid because of politics. Sure, everyone’s outraged by what
happened in Las Vegas, just as we were outraged aft er Orlando, Aurora,
Sandy Hook, Columbine.
But what will we do with that outrage? If history has taught us anything —
nothing. Th at will be our prologue to the next inevitable tragedy.
But it doesn’t have to be.
Everyone — Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, gun owners
and those without guns — must get behind an eff ort to get assault weapons
out of the people’s hands. Let’s not repeat history again.
STORY: Major bus crash in Flushing injures at least 17 people
SUMMARY: Two buses collided in downtown Flushing last week,
sending at least 17 people to the hospital.
REACH: 29,303 people (as of 9/25/17)
Publisher & E ditor Victoria Schneps-Yunis
Co-Publisher Joshua A. Schneps
Associate Publisher Bob Brennan
E ditor-In-Chief Robert Pozarycki
VP, Events, Web & Social Media Amy Amato-Sanchez
Art Director Nirmal Singh
S ocial Media Manager Emily Davenport
S taff Reporters Katrina Medoff, Anthony Giudice, Angela Matua
Suzanne Monteverdi
Contributing Reporters Cliff Kasden, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni
Assistant to Publisher Deborah Cusick
Classified Manager Celeste Alamin
Controller Maria Valencia
President & CEO Victoria Schneps-Yunis
Vice President Joshua A. Schneps
Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361
718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441
www.qns.com
editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com
for advertising e-mail: ads@qns.com
Entire Contents Copyright 2017 by The Courier Sun
All letters sent to THE COURIER SUN should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should
include a full address and home and office telephone numbers, where available, as well as affiliation,
indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request.
No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE COURIER SUN. The
publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by
the error. Errors must be reported to THE COURIER SUN within five days of publication. Ad position
cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication.
VIctoria Media Services assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes
all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold The Courier SUN and its
employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the
publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement.