Manhattan has experienced a difficult few weeks. We have had too many tragic incidents. Too much loss.Today I was at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the funeral for Officer Jason Rivera, killed in the line of duty last Friday together with his partner Officer Wilbert Mora. My heart breaks for their families and the uptown communities which knew and loved them so dearly.Out of this month of tragedies has come a remarkable unity among leaders in this city that we must stop the epidemic of gun violence. This will require a multi-front effort. We must invest in the kinds of social services that prevent young people from picking up a gun in the first place. We must do much more to stop the flow of firearms into our city from southern states. We need to do more to seize the many guns that are already on our streets. And we must do these things while avoiding the mistakes of decades past when young people of color were unfairly and disproportionately targeted by law enforcement.
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