Gun control laws, senior scams, marijuana

Gun control laws have little meaning

Here we go again. Thoughts and prayers for the families and friends of the deceased police officer and his critically wounded partner ["Ground shifts on NYC crime," Editorial, Jan. 25].

Outrage is expressed by elected officials for days on end. There are respectful and disbelieving mentions of the 1-year-old and the napping cop hit by stray bullets within the past few weeks in New York. These reactions are all reasonable and, presumably, sincere.

But shouldn’t there be a serious conversation about the gun used by the criminal responsible for this carnage?

New York has relatively strict gun control laws. They are somewhat meaningless as long as the National Rifle Association makes contributions to politicians’ campaigns as routinely as those same politicians shed tears for the victims of gun violence.

— Chris Marzuk, Greenlawn

These past few weeks have seen a disturbing uptick in terrible crimes in New York City: a woman pushed in front of a subway train; an infant shot in the face during a street gun battle; police officers shot in the line of duty; and then a 22-year-old officer shot and killed after responding to a "domestic" dispute, and his young partner severely wounded.

Can we not finally admit that the soft-on-crime politicians and district attorneys have emboldened criminals to commit these acts? Do they not realize that their job is to protect the safety of citizens they represent?

First, you must remove dangerous criminals from the streets to keep people safe. After that, work on rehabilitating that criminal, and if rehabilitation doesn’t work, then just continue to keep that criminal away from the public. The solution is simple. Just do it.

— Ted Kiladitis, St. James

Sorry to see that there is not much difference between the new mayor and the old boss. Putting plainclothes officers in "high crime areas" sounds tantamount to racial profiling, which led to stop and frisk and so much bad press.

We need to build more incarceration facilities to keep repeat offenders off the street and move away from magical thinking about no cash bail and stop and frisk.

Otherwise, it’s ludicrous to think that things will get better for residents and law enforcement officers who are sacrificing their lives to try to keep a lid on violent crime.

— John Poulos, Freeport

We are living in dangerous times, whether it is political discord, racial issues, antisemitism, lawless actions of those who kill innocent people and, even worse, the police officers who are charged with helping them.

It is time to consider broader options against gangs and violent criminals. We have to severely punish criminals who are released back into society with revolving-door justice, and it is time again for stop and frisk. Stern actions including home raids of gang members, and tougher sentences.

Revamp parole practices. And help mentally ill people get off the streets and get the help they need.

— Joel Moskowitz, Plainview

The latest shooting death of an NYPD officer is a tragedy. It may have been preventable because the gun used was stolen out of state and could have been traced. Liberal gun laws in some states lead to deaths in other states. For every shooting death with an illegal gun, the gun manufacturer and the gun shop that sold the gun should be disclosed.

Regardless of one’s stance on gun control, it must be admitted that the flow of illegal guns is killing people and, in this instance, it killed one of New York’s bravest. Something must be done.

— Jim Baumert, West Islip

Grandma scammer shouldn’t be free

Congratulations to the Seaford grandmother with 911 experience for turning the tables on telephone scam predators in her re-creation of "The Sting" ["Don’t mess with grandma," News, Jan. 22].

The only problem with the story is that the captured suspect charged with a felony was released with a desk appearance ticket and is now free to start dialing for dollars again.

— Glenn Tyranski, Huntington

Pot opt-out: Same as drink, betting issues?

Newsday’s editorial enthusiastically endorsing Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to reinstate the "drinks to go" law, coupled a day later with your tepid editorial regarding mobile online gambling, are puzzling ["Don’t lose all of your bets," Editorial, Jan. 14]. Surely, the aforementioned activities have no positive civic or social merit.

Yet Newsday’s editorial board failed to vigorously support the regulated retail sale of marijuana or publicly excoriate those members of the various town and local municipal boards in Nassau and Suffolk counties who voted to ban marijuana.

Hypocrisy is hypocrisy. The editorial board should advocate for a local opt-out provision for drinks to go and mobile online gambling. Our marijuana naysayers both in government and community positions of leadership need to be forced to take a public position on these matters.

— Eric Jurist, Wantagh