Perez: “Private hell”
WHITE PLAINS – Members of two committees of the Westchester County
Board of Legislators have voted to place a measure on the floor of the
full legislature next week that would ban gun shows from county property.
Labor, Parks, Planning and Housing Committee and Public Safety Committee
members voted to back the proposal at a lengthy joint meeting on Tuesday.
Legislator Virginia Perez said her life was forever altered when her younger
brother, Martin, was shot and killed in the stairwell of a public housing
building in Yonkers while working as a food deliveryman 10 years ago.
“Every time I hear about somebody else falling victim to a senseless
act of violence, rival shooting and whatnot, no one knows how the family
feels like I and my family feel. I can tell you that it is a private hell
that has no remedy,” she said.
Legislator Lyndon Williams also supports prohibiting gun shows from county
property and said that would not infringe on a person’s Second Amendment
rights.
“You can protect the person’s right to bear arms without at
the same time, proliferating, or promoting or adding to the proliferation
of guns, especially in situations where they are uncontrollable in urban
communities,” he said.
There is a gun show scheduled at the County Center in the coming weeks.
From 1999 to 2010, a ban was in place at that facility, but County Executive
Robert Astorino lifted it when he took office and a gun show was held
in 2012. Another gun show was cancelled following the Sandy Hook tragedy.
Legislator Ben Boykin, chairman of the Committee on Public Works and Social
Services, said law enforcement has stated that gun shows are the “Critical
moment” of custody when guns are transferred from the local to illegal
market.
