The Poll: Gun-carrying mayor

Freeport Mayor Andrew Hardwick, citing unspecified threats, has started carrying a gun, constructed a new security system at Village Hall, posted armed cops at village board meetings and had Nassau police install "panic buttons" at his home and office.

While critics, including a village trustee and police union officials, have called the security excessive, Hardwick, 53, defended the measures taken in the first two years of his four-year term.

The village board meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. Newsday's Reid Epstein will be following the events. Find him on Twitter @reidepstein.