In the wake of President Barack Obama's call for a ban on military-style assualt weapons, Port Chester Police Chief Joseph Krzeminski said he agrees with the proposed ban.
Krzeminski also said that police in Port Chester and Rye Brook are working closely with school officials to ensure the safety of local schools in reaction to the deadly Newtown, CT, shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
On the issue of assault weapons - such as the AR-15 used in the Sandy Hook incident to kill 20 students and six adults - Krzeminski gets right to the point.
"There is no reason for a civilian to have an assault weapon," Krzeminski said. "It's not a hunting weapon."
As a law enforcement officer, Krzeminski said the danger to the community from assualt weapons outweighs any threat to Second Amendment freedoms.
However, Krzeminski said his experience has taught him that banning assualt weapons would only be one of many steps necessary to prevent mass shooting tragedies such as Sandy Hook. Krzeminski said he supports efforts to prevent bullying and to identify trouble youths as necessary to help avoid similar incidents in the future.
Krzeminski said discussions are on-going with Port Chester and Rye Brook school officials determine necessary security measures.
In Port Chester, the police department does not have any school resource officers — cops who are specifically assigned to spend time at schools. Nor does Port Chester does not have a DARE program, in which police officers work with fifth-graders in an anti-substance abuse education program.
Krzeminski said that because of staffing reductions, the police department no longer has a full-time youth officer assigned to deal with incidents specifically involving children and teenagers. At its high point, the Port Chester Police Department had 67 officers, with 57 at recent low points.
The department now has 59 officers - with two new officers hired and currently in training.
Here are the key parts of President Obama's proposals to curb gun violence:
- Closing background check loopholes to keep guns out of dangerous hands
- Banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and taking other common sense steps
- Making schools safer
- Increasing access to mental health services
These are measures President Obama is calling on Congress to pass as soon as possible:
- Eliminating loopholes and requiring background checks for all gun sales
- Reinstating the prohibition on high-capacity magazines
- Renewing and strengthening the ban on assault weapons
- Creating serious penalties for gun traffickers
- Getting armor-piercing bullets off the streets by prohibiting the possession and transfer of this dangerous ammunition
- Keep 15,000 cops on the street
- Further research on gun violence
- Help schools develop and implement comprehensive emergency management plans
- Removing restrictions that require ATF to authorize importation of dangerous weapons simply because of their age
Here are the 23 executive orders Obama signed to fast-track some efforts:
Closing background check loopholes
1. Require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers
Steps to reduce gun violence
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission)
9. Require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations
10. Release a DOJ (Department of Justice) report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement
11. Nominate an ATF director
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities
Making schools safer
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship, and institutions of higher education
Increasing access to mental health services
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health
Please define fascist.
The first acts of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were gun registration, followed by the knock on the door to confiscate. Over the centuries how many millions have said: It will never happen here. But it did, and it can. The price of Liberty is eternal vigilance.
Westchester County has no money problems keeping enormous numbers in the Westchester County Jail's revolving door.. Mostly for minor crimes, paying the guards there ridiculous salaries and outrageous benefits. Throw in the large number of County Judges (Westchester County Supreme Court) Mostly a bunch of morons allegedly dispensing justice. We lock more people up every decade than the previous one, for what? To keep feeding a bloated system that is eating the seed corn. They naturally want our guns. For the average citizen? White chalk lines and yellow tape will suffice. Mental health care? Nah, here, here's the newest drug, you'll feel better. Zombies.
I have never seen a gun kill anyone or anything in and of itself. He knows "assault weapons" are not semi-automatics. http://wr2a.wordpress.com/
However, you can, if you qualify and pay a small fee, get a license for a fully auto weapon, people have done so. You can for a fee, $200 I believe, get a fed license for a silencer. People have done this as well. What we really need are full, yearly, background checks on politicians. Drug tests every six months for them, so we can know what 'wonder' meds they're gulping down. Plus what illegal drugs they're using as well. Test 'em early, test 'em often.
this simpleton is highly educated and his argument is based on the premise of Nash equilibria - from a field of economics commonly known as game theory- simpletons might know it as "chicken". MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) is actually very effective... until it isn't ... so having killing machines in your home, village, state, country puts you in the game - good luck to those (simpletons) who think this model will work well for their family, neighbors or society. Nash's equilibria doesn't reward irrationality... T H I N K A B O U T I T - T H I N K R E A L L Y, R E A L L Y H A R D W H E N Y O U B U Y M O R E A M M O ! ! !
http://portchester.patch.com/articles/two-handguns-stolen-in-rockland-home-burglary-24a13fd9 so surprised...wow ! who could've imagined somebody would steal guns ! ...gee, let's go get us some more guns honey, because they stole the neighbors guns and the government is gonna come take ours... oh boy.. gotta have more guns, hurry !!!
Calling 911. Hello, how may we serve you today? Uh, yeah, someone's breaking into my house. Reply: Stay where you are, we're bringing the yellow tape and the white chalk. Have a nice day, sir. Speak softly and carry a big whistle.
Whoo-hoo, what an idea. As for all things Nash, I defer to Rich Conaty.
http://www.infowars.com/obama-dhs-purchases-2700-light-armored-tanks-to-go-with-their-1-6-billion-bullet-stockpile/
So a gun get stolen, we ban guns? Cars are stolen all the time, with many resulting in innocent people being killed. Ban cars and return to the buckboard? There are places in America where it is required that adults own a gun. The crime rates in those communities is incredibly low. England, great gun grabbers, has, per capita, nearly twice the home break in's as America. And well over half of those in England are 'hot', meaning the tenants are at home when the criminals break and enter. The 'hot' percentage in America is in the mid-teens. Why the higher numbers in England, where gun possession is almost nil? Hmmmm?
"Georgia resident Larry Wayne Thornton was among the 17 people included in President Obama‘s first series of presidential pardons, one man is receiving clemency for his conviction of possessing an unregistered firearm". My understanding is that he had a weapon(s) with the serial numbers files off of it; a BIG "no no" in possessing illegal guns. I understand what the government is trying to do here but this sounds like they are not reading their own press releases; doesn't it?
Larry Wayne Thornton – Forsyth, Georgia. Offense: Possession of an unregistered firearm, 26 U.S.C. §§ 5861(d), 5871; possession of a firearm without a serial number, 26 U.S.C. §§ 5861(i), 5871. Sentence: Four years probation.
The logic is simple - society has less risk when the weapons in the society have less firepower.
Everyone should read this and take time to think...Keep away from the crazy talking heads trying to sell ad time and use your ability to think critically. We can only evolve if we think hard about complex issues.
These weapons, and how many times must others say it, assault weapons are full auto rifles. So stop calling these single pull single shot guns as assault weapons, they're not. Many guns are stolen to be sold for the money, as are cars. You have no idea how much mayhem occurs every year in America with stolen cars. Why? The phony big media chooses not to dwell on it. As it ignores the massive crime wave perpetrated by many illegals in this country. Murder, rape, assault at high levels from these illegals yet the media reports 1% at best. And OUR government does little, releasing hundreds, thousands back onto the streets in recent weeks it turns out. How does that help the American Citizen? How many crimes each day are prevented by legal guns? Far more than you'll ever hear reported. How dare those people defend themselves! Who do they think they are? Or are you in that camp as the Democrat in Colorado is? Telling women they shouldn't carry but should surrender to a rapist. Last year many women foiled rapists with legal guns. Who do they think they are? You continue to ignore the communities where gun ownership is mandated and their low crime rates owing to that.
1 - Define "epidemic levels" 2 - Define "phony big media" 3 - Share your crime data on "these illegals". You claim to have superior data to "the media" 4 - How "many" rapes were averted by the presence of a gun ? 5 - Democrat in CO, who's that ?- I'm not in any camps and am not seeking any. 6 - Please tell us what communities mandate gun ownership? Apologies for ignoring them, do you think they are relevant to a serious conversation about a serious issue? As you try to come up with these "facts", perhaps it will provide you with an opportunity to think about what you've been believing and why you believe it.
^ Squires, Peter (2000). Gun culture or gun control?: firearms, violence and society. New York: Routledge. p. 82. ISBN 0-415-17087-7. "Later research, however, found no reduction in Kennesaw burglary rates when the figures were re-examined over a longer time period."
As for the crime rates perpetrated in America by illegals, search for it yourself. The feds keep the numbers, but the phony media stay away from that. Why? Because they are in the tank for amnesty. The stats for rapes prevented by guns is available. The story of the pol in Colorado was big news, well, mentioned and then swept under the rug by the big media. Google it. It was viral in the alternate media. There's more than one place in America with gun requirements. And who is to say who a 'legitimate statistician' is, hmm? Others, just as 'legitimate' have found different.
The stories regarding the burglary rates in England are from traditional news sources, and I never said otherwise. And your rights? What right of yours, that is in the Constitution, is being infringed? You're not required to own a gun in PC, don't want one, don't own one. And you never commented on the article about the feds arming themselves as they are. The sources are legitimate. But ignorance being bliss, you are indeed very blissful.