NYC Teens Carrying Guns At New Low; Bloomberg Credits Stop-And-Frisk
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Federal data claims that the number of teenagers carrying guns in New York City has reached an all time low.
The federal data shows teens carrying guns in the city reached an all-time low of 2.3 percent, which is less than half the overall national average of 5.1 percent and a decline of 36 percent since 2001.
The city also released a report showing murders in New York City during 2012 fell by more than 19 percent from 2011 (515 to 419) and that 96 percent of that decline can be attributed to fewer black and Hispanic murder victims compared to 2011.
NYC Teens Carrying Guns At New Low; Bloomberg Credits Stop-And-Frisk
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at the 81st Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, on Thursday credited the NYPD's stop-and-frisk program, as well as the use of social media and good intelligence.
He took the opportunity to apparently take aim at politicians who oppose stop-and-frisk.
"I don't think, given the results, that you wanna go and say 'Well let's take each one of these things, cancel it for a couple of years and see what happens.' We're playing with lives. This is not politics," Bloomberg said.
"Nobody likes to get stopped, but you have to do something and it's a question of stopping and annoying you or saving your life, I know which one we're gonna do," Bloomberg said.
Kelly Defends Stop-And-Frisk
"It's integral to what we do. It's essential to what we do," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. "Every police department in America uses this tactic. You have to. If you see something of a suspicious nature, you have to act. That's what the taxpayers require you to do."
The mayor said we must continue to work to take guns off the streets, adding too often young people are the ones doing the shooting.
