“As long as it’s a given right for law abiding citizens to own a weapon legally I think we have to do what the Constitution says,” says West New York Police Director Robert Antolos.
“You’re not going to stop the bad guy from getting a gun so if we could let the good guys have guns…,” says PBA President Det. Thomas Mannion. “I believe everybody should have the right to bear arms.”
“You should have a right to carry a gun, obviously for your own protection. But unfortunately some of the people that are carrying guns, they’re not using it for their protection — they’re using for their own like kinda like the Wild, Wild West,” says Sgt. William Kelly, supervisor’s union president.
“In this day and age you have to have that right. That right cannot be taken away from you. It’s just a matter of using your brain,” says Dorinne Auriemma of West New York.
New York’s gun laws were tightened and that means — if you’re found with a gun you go to jail for a year.
“It didn’t stop anything. It has to be done on a much larger scale. We also have to protect ourselves from a home grown terrorist,” says Mayor Nicholas Sacco.
Sacco says we have a lot of good laws in New Jersey and maybe some should be modeled on the federal level.
“We still haven’t gotten our assault rifle — the magazine number bill through,” Sacco says. “We passed it and the governor vetoed it. Now a limited number of bullets that a rifle like that could have. But I don’t know how long this country’s gonna tolerate this type of action.”
Sgt. Karriem Shabazz says he has personal issues with civilians having guns.
“Someone that can go to a gun show and go through these different loopholes, these straw buyers and things like that. I do believe that we need some stricter gun laws,” says Shabazz, of the WNYPD narcotics unit. “We have to look at the issue of mental health in this country.”
Guns are the top killing machine so far in 2016. In the United States, the death rate from gun homicides is about 31 per million people — that’s equivalent to 27 people shot dead every day of the year.
“Any American who leaves their house and has to worry about coming home that night, that’s pretty sad,” says Commissioner Susan Colacurcio.
