Weapons cache in Qns. home
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — More than 75 students, anti-gun advocates and local clergy braved the pouring rain Friday outside the headquarters of Smith & Wesson to ask the company’s president to stop manufacturing the assault weapons used in at least three mass shootings.
Chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, assault rifles have got to go,” the demonstrators also carried signs imploring Smith & Wesson President and CEO P. James Debney to sit down with them.
The students, who came from gun-violence plagued neighborhoods in Boston, Springfield and Holyoke, stood for a moment of silence after reading the names of teenagers who died from gun violence in their communities.
“We think state and federal legislation are an important way to tackle gun violence but we also know the role of the manufacturer is important too,” said Liz Steinhauser, one of the protest organizers.
She said students hand-delivered and sent letters to Debney in March asking the CEO to sit down with them to discuss ways the gun manufacturer could be part of the solution to escalating gun violence.
They also want him to recall the M&P 15-22 semiautomatic rifle, which was used by Nikolas Cruz in the slaying 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14.
Debney never responded to those letters, Steinhauser said.
It was unclear if he was in his office during the demonstration.
Security officers kept outsiders off the gun manufacturer’s campus Friday. Debney couldn’t be reached.
Chandler Shippee, 17, a student from Chelsea, Mass., was among 10 students who tried to get into the company’s visitor center only to find it closed.
“We want people to see the effect gun violence has on people. The whole purpose of guns is to kill, and Smith & Wesson, which is making these guns, hasn’t helped,” she said afterwards. She noted there have been 36 shootings in her town in the last six months, saying the effect has been traumatic for many in her town.
“We really want Smith & Wesson to be part of the solution,” said Douglas Fisher, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts and one of several clergymen who attended the demonstration. He asked the company to “do something positive.”
“We stand for those who are vulnerable in our streets and we stand for those who are vulnerable in our schools.”
Demonstrators said they will continue their campaign to meet with Debney and plan to get elected officials involved in that effort.
“This is a long, long road but even if it takes a while, we’ve got to keep coming back,” said Rabbi Mark Shapiro, with Sinai Temple in Springfield. Smith & Wesson manufactured the assault rifles used in the mass shootings at Parkland, San Bernadino, Calif., and Aurora, Calif. COPS RAIDING a Queens home Thursday found a small arsenal of guns and ammo.
Officers hauled off 16 rifles, a crossbow and 13,000 rounds of ammunition around 9:34 a.m. from the Queens Village house of Keith Harvey, 44, a contractor.
Bullets were packed into metal military-like ammo boxes or still in the original packaging.
Cops also found a ballistic vest, numerous high-capacity clips and a knuckle knife.
Among the weapons (photo below) were three assault rifles — including a Fabrique Nationale model with a 50-round clip and two AK-47-style guns.
Harvey, who has no prior criminal record, was charged with multiple count of illegal weapons possession.
“Illegal firearms pose an extreme risk to the public, and in Queens County creating your own warehouse of lethal shotguns and rifles will not be tolerated,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said .
He was arraigned Friday and bail was set at $150,000. Harvey is slated to return to court May 11.
Harvey’s friend and neighbor, Joe Russo, 50, said there was no reason for all the alarm.
“These allegations are insane,” he said. “He is a gun collector. His father was one too. He gave him the guns. It’s amazing what some people will come up with. He’s a hardworking man who has never been in trouble.”
Some of the weapons and ammo were found in Harvey’s gun safe in his dining room.
It was the third arrest in the past two weeks of a person with a huge cache of illegal weapons in their home.
On April 16, cops found 70 guns and 50,000 bullets in the Bayside home of a man named Ronald Drabman.
They found an AK-47 rifle, two Colt AR-15 rifles, five Bushmaster XM-15 rifles and an Uzi submachine gun in Drabman’s home.
Cops believe Drabman was a collector.
On April 15, Robert Czak, 32, of Long Island was arrested after cops found 19 guns in his house, 200 high-capacity magazines, gas masks, knives, night vision goggles and a silencer.