NEW YORK – After a Texas school massacre left 19 students and two teachers dead, school safety is back in the spotlight, prompting state police to conduct checkpoints at New York schools as late as early summer, Governor Kathy said. Hochul said.
Even before the shooting in Uvalde, there had already been a massive increase in the number of guns and weapons found in New York City schools. According to police, the city has seen a 300 percent increase in the number of weapons found in schools over the course of the academic year, compared to the last school year before the pandemic.
“We’ve recovered 20 guns at the school since the beginning of the year,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference on Wednesday, which had already been planned to discuss plans to combat the gun surge.
Just days ago a semi-automatic pistol was found in the backpack of a 13-year-old boy, and Adams said one of the guns was found only because a school employee overheard a conversation in which the boy said he had a gun.
“Public safety cannot be a matter of luck and listening to conversations,” the mayor said.
In addition to firearms, police said 5,546 dangerous instruments have been recovered from schools, including knives and other potentially sharp objects. That represents a 124 percent increase from the last school year before the pandemic.
Adams said he wants a new type of metal detector, which works without a security line, in schools. She also wants parents to start checking their children’s bags right away.
“If you see boxes of bullets, something is wrong. We have to stop living life as it should be and live life as it is,” Adams said. “There is no freedom when you can’t go to school, the supermarket or ride the train.”
Plus, a simple change could soon be coming to the nation’s largest school district: no more open-door policy.
“Today I spoke with the head of the principals union, who said to close the front doors. Once inside, they should be locked,” said New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks.
Hochul also said he wants state lawmakers to raise the legal purchase age for a gun.
“Am I supposed to leave the flags at half-staff? They’re still at half-staff in Buffalo. No, I don’t want to,” he said.
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