Yonkers Insider: Statement from New York State Assemblyman Nader Sayegh 90th District.

 

Friends,

I extend our deepest sympathy to the victims in Buffalo and Uvalde. This week, halfway across the country in South Texas, another 18 year-old yet again committed a heinous act of mass murder, with the same type of assault style weapon, this time targeting children and educators in a classroom. How can it be in our country that yet again, families will face a lifetime of unbearable loss and pain because these guns are so widely available and so lethal that 10 people at a grocery store or 19 school children and two teachers, are gone in a few minutes? We cannot accept these mass shootings as the new normal, and we owe it to our children, our seniors, and or   Schools and teachers across the nation will hold additional Active Shooter Drills, while here in New York, State and local police will be actively checking on school buildings. In addition, I'm pleased that this week, New York successfully defended a lawsuit brought by gun manufacturers in Federal Court. This suit aimed to challenge a gun violence law that I helped pass last year which gives the victims of gun violence the ability to sue gun manufacturers. In the absence of substantive action from the Federal Government on addressing gun violence, we will rise to the challenge in New York State to do what it takes to keep our residents safe. I thank groups like Moms Demand Action and Everytown For Gun Safety that have turned moments of tragedy into action to help stop the scourge of gun violence. New York State has passed laws to prevent criminals and the dangerously mentally ill from buying guns, cracked down on illegal gun sales and banned the sale of the most dangerous assault weapons. We also passed a Red Flag Law to allow citizens to ask the Courts to intervene when someone appears to be an imminent threat to themselves or others. We will continue to pass laws and support law enforcement officials in their efforts to stop gun violence. However, one State acting alone will not turn the tide. It would require the Congress to act.

Nader J. Sayegh NYS Assemblyman 90th District-Yonkers