(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Instead of fighting against crime, the New York City officials, led by Democratic mayor Eric Adams, will install body scanners at several busy subway stations to prevent people from entering while carrying guns.
Adams announced a pilot program for the scanners at a news conference on March 28, 2024, at the Fulton Street subway station in Lower Manhattan.
“This is our Sputnik moment. Like when Kennedy said we’re going to put a man on the moon… Let’s bring on the scanners,” he said, according to the Daily Wire.
The event included a demonstration of how the scanners work, during which the scanners appeared to flag a man carrying a loaded gun, but not a man with a backpack full of electronics.
It was also reported that subway riders will not be required to pass through the machines and the new scanners will not be implemented for several months.
The NYPD will look for vendors of weapons detection technology during a legally mandated 90-day waiting period, with the public being able to comment on the scanner program for the first 45 days of the waiting period.
The city didn’t say which subway stations will get scanners as part of the pilot program. Police are expected to monitor the machines to see if the program should be expanded, the news source added.
“We are taking the next step forward in our ongoing efforts to make our subways even safer and ensure New Yorkers feel safer in the transit system,” Adams said on March 28, 2024.
The new scanners come amid a sharp increase in gun violence in the city’s subway, with four subway killings happening so far this year, just under the five that occurred over all of last year.
So far this year, 19 illegal guns have been seized in the subway by the NYPD, which is up from nine by this point last year.
