NYC Mayor Adams holds gun violence prevention talks with N.Y. leaders as congressional action hangs in balance

Mayor Adams met with elected leaders from across the state Tuesday to discuss what they can do to crack down on gun violence in their cities, as congressional action on the high-stakes issue once again hangs in the balance in the wake of a rash of mass shootings.

In addition to Adams, the virtual meeting featured seven mayors, gun violence prevention activists, a county executive and the mother of a victim of a 2018 Florida school shooting. Most speakers acknowledged there is action that can be taken on a local level, including allocating more resources for mental health treatment and social programs, like the crisis management teams used by New York City to prevent violence before it erupts.

But the leaders also agreed that the onus for action first and foremost lies with Congress, where a long list of gun control bills have stalled for years due to a refusal by Republicans to consider them.

“We have fought so long to ensure to have strong gun laws. There must be a national approach to this. There must be national solutions,” Adams said in the meeting, which was convened by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.

Buffalo, New York’s second largest city, is still reeling from the racist May 14 mass shooting at a Tops grocery store that left 10 Black people dead. Just 10 days after the Buffalo tragedy, another gunman stormed into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and fatally shot 19 children and two teachers.

The teen suspects in both shootings wielded legally obtained AR-15-style assault rifles, according to police.

The massacres have prompted renewed calls for Congress to enact stricter gun laws on a national level, with Democrats on Capitol Hill pushing a variety of proposals, from outlawing assault rifles and so-called ghost guns to tightening federal background check requirements for weapon purchases. There are also legislative proposals on the table focused on beefing up law enforcement around guns.

Brown, who met with Adams while he was in Buffalo over the weekend to honor the victims of the Tops shooting, noted that New York has among the strictest gun laws in the nation.

But he said New York can only do so much to restrict the proliferation of firearms on a local level, especially as the conservative-leaning Supreme Court could strike down a key state gun restriction in coming weeks.

“Gun violence is not just a Buffalo or New York State problem — it’s a national crisis,” Brown said.

In a pointed reference to a phrase often uttered by Republican lawmakers in the wake of mass shootings in the U.S., Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard chimed in: “Thoughts and prayers are no longer enough. We need to take action.”

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators were expected to hold a Zoom call Tuesday to discuss a path for passing some sort of gun control legislation when Congress returns to session on June 6.

The Senate poses the biggest roadblock for Democratic hopes of gun control since at least 10 Republicans in that chamber would need to support any given bill for it to pass. Unlike the Senate, Democrats in the House can pass gun control legislation without any support from their GOP colleagues.

Linda Beigel Schulman, the mother of Scott Beigel, a teacher who was among the 17 people killed in a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14, 2018, choked back tears as she accused Republicans in the Senate of “holding the entire country hostage” by refusing to support new gun laws.

“Our lives have been turned upside down and inside out. Our lives will never be the same,” Beigel said in Tuesday’s virtual meeting.

By contrast, Adams offered a grain of optimism over the fact that senators are talking about the prospect of adopting new gun laws.

“We take our hats off to the senators who are meeting today to have a real dialogue defined by bipartisanship to address these issues,” he said.