Gun Threat Causes Lockdown In Eastchester

Guns continued to be in the news this week when a report surfaced that there was an armed man on the White Plains Post Road. This caused all Eastchester Schools to be locked down on Wednesday afternoon. Though it turned out that there was a miscommunication and the man had no gun and was in Rye Brook, not Eastchester, the threat wreaked havoc and frightened the surrondeing communities.

Statistics show that guns pose a significant risk to the population. Here are just a few to consider:

• On average, 88 Americans are killed by gun violence each day.
• More than half of women killed by their intimate partner in the US are killed with gun.
• The risk of homicide for women in a gun-owning household is three times more likely than in homes without guns.
• People with guns at home are twice as likely to die by homicide than people without guns in their homes.
• 50% of suicides are committed with guns.
• The risk of suicide is five times higher for people in gun-owning households.

Local residents are concerned about the presence of guns in the community. The Scarsdale Congregational Church Interfaith Coalition Against Gun Violence held a screening of the film, "Making a Killing, Guns, Greed and the NRA" on Wednesday May 4th. The film traced the impact of guns on families whose loved ones had been shot and showed how the NRA has blocked initiatives to control the sale of guns and safe storage of guns in homes. Following the film, Leah Gunn Barrett, Executive Director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, shared a few ideas about how those in the room could advocate for gun control.

She informed attendees that Westchester County has a gun safety law in place but it is not currently enforced. She urged residents to ask lawmakers and police why this is so. Here is the law:

Gun Safety Law Westchester: The presence of an unsecured, easily accessible loaded weapon in the home increases the likelihood of death or injury from accidents and impulsive acts. Guns left unattended in the home should be kept locked or stored securely to prevent access by children and others who should not have access to them. Gun owners are responsible for keeping their firearms from falling into the hands of children and other unauthorized individuals.

No person who owns or is custodian of a weapon shall store or otherwise leave such weapon out of his or her immediate possession or control without having first securely locked such weapon in an appropriate safe storage depository or rendered it incapable of being fired by use of a safety locking device appropriate to that weapon.

She also pressed attendees to ask law enforcement for the data on lost and stolen firearms over the last five years. When a gun is locked up, it can't be stolen and end up on the streets.

State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin recently sponsored a bill that would require those convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence crime to surrender his/her firearms including rifles, shotguns, black powder rifles, black powder shotguns, muzzle-loading firearms, antique firearms and pistols. Commenting on the bill, Paulin said, "Intimate partner homicide is the most frequent type of domestic homicide," said Paulin, who added that firearms, including handguns, rifles and shotguns, are the weapons used in one-third of intimate-partner homicides. "We know that when a gun is in the house, an abused woman is six times more likely than other abused women to be killed."

The bill has been passed in the State Assembly and Paulin is currently seeking a sponsor for the law to propose it for passage in the State Senate.

Barrett from New Yorkers Against Gun Violence said the group also supports passage of Nicholas's Law, that would require the safe storage of guns not in the immediate possession of the owner. The bill is named for Nicholas Naumkin, a 12 year-old from Saratoga, NY who was shot and killed on a play date by a friend who had discovered his father's loaded and unlocked 9mm handgun.

Learn more about Nicholas' Law and deaths from accidental shootings here: