Anti-police rhetoric does not help the quest to rid Westchester of illegal guns | Opinion

“This may be the most painful morning that I can recall in my time of service and one of the most painful that I can recall in my life."

— New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson on June 6, 2020, the morning after the shooting death of convicted felon Kamal Flowers and before any investigation was begun.

“I’m so upset about another horrific incident in our community. We are going through so much already. There needs to be an immediate state investigation into this police killing of a Black man, Kamal Flowers, in New Rochelle.”

— Candidate Jamaal Bowman on June 6, 2020, also before any investigation into the shooting of Flowers was conducted.

These were the words of our local elected leaders on the morning after Police Officer Alec McKenna came within a trigger pull of losing his life trying to keep illegal guns off the streets of New Rochelle. If Flowers succeeded in killing McKenna, these same politicians would have been tripping over themselves to get in front of a camera to call him a “hero” who bravely died in the service of the city.

On June 5, 2020, McKenna chased Flowers — a convicted violent felon in possession of an illegal weapon — placing himself at extraordinary risk of death with every step. During the pursuit, Flowers — a parolee released from a lengthy prison stint three months earlier for a gunpoint carjacking — pulled his gun from his waist band and, as his later actions show, would have tried to shoot McKenna with it. Instead, he dropped it to the ground. Rather than shoot, McKenna deployed his taser, with no effect. Flowers grabbed the illegal gun and pointed it directly at McKenna for a second time and fired: later tests confirmed Flowers’ his DNA on the trigger.

By the Grace of God, the bullet did not discharge and Officer McKenna was spared. Undeterred, Flowers adjusted the cartridge of the weapon and again pointed it directly at McKenna, who was shouting at Flowers “don’t do it”. Left with no choice, McKenna fired, killing Flowers and saving his own life. Notably, he also took an illegal gun off the streets of New Rochelle: a gun that could have resulted in many more senseless, tragic deaths, like the one that happened recently in New Rochelle’s West End.

At a press conference attended by virtually every local elected official in New Rochelle, Bramson labeled the morning of Flowers’ death “one of the most painful that I can recall in my life.” Mayor Bramson never once mentioned the extraordinary risk officer McKenna faced to rid his city of the scourge of illegal guns. No elected leader commended McKenna for the exceptional restraint and bravery he displayed, firing his weapon only after Flowers made it clear that he was intent on carrying out his plan of escaping at any cost — including taking the life of a uniformed police officer. To this day, neither Bramson nor Bowman have ever acknowledged that Flowers’ illegal 9mm semi-automatic handgun was recovered at the scene along with several 9mm bullets recovered in his pocket.

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Today, we mourn the death of two New York City police officers killed by gunfire, once again rightly lauding each of them as a hero. Yet to this day, not a single elected official in Westchester County has acknowledged McKenna for the bravery he displayed in getting yet another urban weapon of war off the streets. To this day, not one local leader has thanked McKenna for removing another gun from our community. Nor has a single New Rochelle official expressed relief or gratitude that McKenna did not die in the process, though he very nearly did.

Instead, following the horrific shooting death of a 17-year old in New Rochelle, our local elected officials have expressed outrage over the proliferation of guns in Westchester — guns that become available to teenagers who use them to shoot and kill each other. Not surprisingly, news reports indicate that the New Rochelle shooter fired a 9mm semiautomatic handgun — the same gun that nearly killed McKenna.

Bramson and Bowman, predictably riding the waves of the shifting political tides, are now lamenting their inability to stem the flow of illegal guns into the hands of teenagers:

“The tragic death of the 16-year-old New Rochelle boy is only made worse by the fact that he was killed by a 16-year-old who was able to get his hands on a gun," Bowman said Jan. 27. "The system is failing our youth at every level. We need to do everything in our power to support our youth and their families, address the mental health crisis, and put an end to the influx of guns coming from outside of our state and into the hands of our teenagers. This is unacceptable and cannot be normalized.”

“More broadly, this incident highlights yet again the destructive impact of our nation’s lax gun regulations, which flood firearms into the wrong hands and can transform any dispute into a heartbreaking loss,” Bramson said Jan. 27.

Getting guns off the streets of Westchester is extraordinarily dangerous work. It requires a profound level of bravery, yet is so often overlooked or worse, taken for granted. Since the death of Flowers, New Rochelle police officers have made 40 gun arrests, each time risking their own life in the process. Each time a police officer takes a gun illegally possessed by another from the community, he or she faces the very real risk that they too will be placed in McKenna’s dangerous position. Police officers should not be forced to consider whether they want to die a hero or live as a defendant.

It is long past time to once again allow Westchester County police officers to use the tools they already have to stop the violence that is plaguing our communities. The progressive policies of frighteningly liberal district attorneys who believe that police officers are the problem and not the solution must be soundly and loudly denounced. The citizens who truly care about the safety of all of our county’s neighborhoods must come forward and be heard. We must, as law-abiding residents who seek to protect all children in all communities, elect leaders who understand that police officers are our greatest weapon in the war on gun violence, who deserve support rather than contempt. We must reject the anti-police rhetoric that is demoralizing police officers and curtailing recruitment.

And it is long past time that someone thank Alec McKenna for his service.

Andrew Quinn, a Westchester County Attorney, represents police unions including the Yonkers Police Benevolent Association and the New York Police Department Sergeants Benevolent Association.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester County NY illegal guns: Anti-police rhetoric doesn't help