Stuyvesant High School is in close proximity to the Oct. 31 terror attack in which a man drove a truck down a bike path killing eight. In the aftermath of this attack Sen. Felder called for revisiting his bill to place armed NYPD officers at all city schools.
For the second time in two weeks, Sen. Simcha Felder is calling for armed police to be posted outside every New York City school.
Sen. Felder, D-Brooklyn, first called for armed NYPD officers to be placed at city schools after a Halloween terror attack in New York City. In that incident, eight people were killed and 11 were injured when a man drove a rented truck down a crowded bike path. The attack occurred near two schools in lower Manhattan.
That attacker was eventually apprehended by a police officer who happened to be nearby and according to Felder, proves that his legislation, S.6798, must be passed to ensure the safety of New York City’s students.
This week, Felder again called on the Assembly to pass their own version of his Senate bill, which passed the upper house on June 21, following news of a gunman in northern California who went on a shooting spree Tuesday morning, killing 5 people across 7 different shooting scenes.
One of these scenes was an elementary school where the shooter spent 6 minutes firing into the walls and windows after the faculty and staff locked the school down upon hearing the gunshots.
“A crazed gunman severely injured two students at an elementary school in California this Tuesday.” reads a statement from Felder released Wednesday. “An armed guard outside would have neutralized this insane attacker the moment he arrived.
“New York public schools are protected by unarmed resource officers. But times have changed and the days of unarmed guards are over,” added Sen. Felder.
“When a situation calls for immediate action, all they can do is call the police. That makes every school a soft target and every student a potential victim. My proposed legislation places a well-trained, armed NYPD officer in front of every school,” reads the statement.
Felder’s legislation did pass a floor vote in the Senate but was referred to the Assembly Education Committee, where the bill has sat ever since.
