Leaders call on New Yorkers to turn in guns after shooting massacre
As the nation recovers from the nightmarish tragedy that claimed 26 lives Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School, local officials are joining the conversation about gun control, urging people to get weapons off the streets of the city.
Officials including Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio are supporting buyback programs designed to let people hand over their guns to police, no questions asked, and receive $100 in return.
Rodriguez also announced the relaunch of “Toys for Guns,” which allows people to turn in weapons in exchange for a toy or toy voucher.
The NYPD’s gun buyback program has netted 8,000 weapons since it was implemented, police said. Most recently, cops recovered 134 weapons at a Brooklyn buyback hosted Saturday — just one day after the tragic mass shooting in Connecticut.
“With over 30,000 deaths from gun violence in America in the past year alone, there is a real need to limit the amount of illegal guns on our streets,” Rodriguez said. “I am calling on any and all New Yorkers to surrender their firearms so that we can help prevent another national tragedy.”
Meanwhile, Councilman Peter Vallone is pushing legislation he first introduced in 2010, which would provide NYPD security for nonpublic schools, urging fellow lawmakers to give “equal protection” to all city students.
“The City cannot ignore the safety of thousands of kids based solely on the type of school they attend,” Vallone said. 
