Our country grieves once against for more victims of gun violence. The most recent chapter in a long history of shootings is the fatal shooting of the vice president of Hazlan Import Corporation right outside the Empire State Building in broad daylight. The shooter was Jeffery Johnson, 58, a former fashion designer who was apparently disgruntled about his recent firing. Johnson apparently shot 40 year-old Steve Ercolino because of a previous work conflict that resulted in Johnson’s firing. Then, the police arrived and proceeded to have a brief shootout resulting in Johnson’s death. After the scene calmed, not only were Ercolino and Johnson dead, but 9 other bystanders were wounded in the shootout.
This shooting, among others, continue to show proof that our lax gun laws are not effective. How many shootings have to happen in order to wake up the politicians in Washington? I feel that all of these unnecessary deaths are easily preventable by stricter gun laws. In the case of The Empire State Building Shooting, Johnson obtained a gun legally in Florida but he did not have a permit to carry it in New York. The gun laws in the United States differ from state to state causing confusion over the legality of certain firearms. What is legal in one state may be illegal in other states. Technically, the gun Johnson used was highly illegal in New York, but if he was carrying it Florida, it would have been completely non-lethal. I fail to understand why some politicians focus on slandering one another as opposed to passing laws that would help protect the citizens of the United States. The second amendment was put in place because the colonists were used to defending themselves from occupying British soldiers and wanted to protect their lives and their country from invaders. Now, the only thing this amendment is accomplishing is allowing our citizens to shoot one another. We need to take action to prevent horrible shootings.
In the Empire State Building Shooting, the main problem was differing gun laws between states. The gun laws of states vary from allowing easy access to guns for all, to a strict system of procedures necessary for obtaining a gun. One way that we can combat this problem is to exercise our rights as citizens and start petitions encouraging stricter gun laws. If these petitions can get to politicians, gun laws could become a hot button issue and action could be taken. Other than petitions, as individuals we can write to our politicians and directly appeal to them for stricter laws. Until these laws are passed, shootings such as this one will continue to happen. Instead of focusing on the terribleness of a shooting and then forgetting it, we need to focus on the cause and fix it so nothing this horrible happens again. I am tired of inaction towards guns. Instead of looking at The Empire State Building Shooting and thinking it is a horrible story, instead we should think about what course of action we can take to prevent this from happening in the future.
-Cameron Barkan
