Brooklyn Pols — Including Jeffries, Cumbo, And Simon — Voice Support For President Obama’s Gun Control Legislation

President Barack Obama’s announcement that he is taking executive action to strengthen gun control laws, increase background checks, and provide financial and human resources to implementing these new rules, along with existing rules, has been met with a chorus of approval from local politicians and parent groups.

“With this historic action, President Obama has taken a significant step toward making America a safer place,” wrote Congressmember Hakeem Jeffries in a statement. “Over the past decade, more than 100,000 Americans have been killed as a result of gun violence. Many of these crimes were committed by people who never should have been able to purchase a gun in the first place.”

“Increase accountability, enforce existing measures like background checks, provide help to those w/mental illness, & boost gun safety tech,” wrote Councilmember Laurie Cumbo on Twitter. “I applaud President Obama for his leadership and look forward to working with my fellow legislators to enact change.”

Obama’s executive actions to curb gun violence in America are comprised of 10 things:

• require gun sellers — including those on the Internet and at gun shows — to be licensed and to conduct background checks on customers before selling them a weapon;
• hire more than 230 additional people for the FBI to help process these new background checks 24/7;
• keep track of illegal gun trafficking online by creating a new investigation center under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives;
• provide $4 million and more employees “to enhance the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network”;
• provide an additional $500 million to: (1) treat mental illness — pending congressional approval — and (2) require that any firearms lost in transit/mail between a manufacturer and a seller be reported to federal authorities (a reported average of 1,333 guns per year have been recovered in criminal investigations and traced back to sellers who never reported the guns missing, according to the White House);
• modernize operations at the U.S. Digital Service and a proposal to add 200 new ATF agents and investigators to bolster enforcement.

Explaining these actions, Obama stated that although he believes Congress is needed to “get our complete arm around the problem” of gun violence and illegal gun sales, “what I asked my team to do is to see what more we could do to strengthen our enforcement. . . These are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authority and the executive branch, but they’re also ones that the overwhelming majority of the American people, including gun owners, support and believe in.”

Jeffries agreed.

“The overwhelming majority of Americans agree that every single person who purchases a gun should undergo a thorough background check,” he said. “House Republicans have done nothing to advance gun safety legislation and continue to function as wholly-owned subsidiaries of the gun lobby.  Enough is enough.  It’s time for Congress to act.”

The debate became personal for two Brooklyn pols, after an NRA-sponsored publication tweeted a photo of State Senator Roxanne Persaud (D – 19th Senate District) and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon (AD 52) with bullets next to their faces, creating a visual often used in movies to suggest the targets of an impending hit.

Both Persaud and Simon — as well as many politicians in New York City and around the country — responded by condemning the threatening imagery that was used.

“Reasonable people can disagree but still come together to find common ground,” Simon said in a statement. “I challenge the NRA to stop the bullying, act like civilized human beings, and join the national dialogue to make our neighborhoods and country safer from all threats, foreign or domestic.”

In an article in the Daily News by Senator Persaud, she writes “placing bullets on pictures of elected officials, especially when we know that elected officials have been targeted by violent extremists in the past, is reckless and dangerous.”

Simon and Persaud introduced legislation in December that would limit the amount of ammunition purchased per gun. A gun owner would be able to purchase no more than twice the capacity of any weapon for every 90 days. Assemblywoman Simon has referred to this an an “anti-stockpiling bill.”

Reporting contributed by Donny Levit.