Who can ever forget Newtown and other school shootings plus the recent Parkland, Florida school murders? For any parent, this latest horror has hit an emotional cord once again.
Where has Elaine Phillips been in this time of tragedy on the gun control issue?
Shortly after Parkland, over 900 people who reside in the 7th State Senate District gathered at Ielpi Park in Great Neck for the Anti-Gun Rally.
While many elected officials came to express support for anti-gun legislation, including Town Councilwoman Anna Kaplan, Sen. Phillips did not show up.
Was she too busy or too afraid?
Why does she blindly accept the National Rifle Association’s PAC money that the state Republican Committee piles up in its coffers to dole out to its state Republican legislators so that they will continue to support the NRA?
Has she ever joined her constituents at an anti-gun violence rally or reached out to such gun safety organizations as Everytown for Gun Safety and New Yorkers Against Gun Violence?
Has she ever held a Town Hall meeting to address gun violence, for that matter?
Has she ever spoken with survivors of gun violence or consulted with physicians and psychologists about its physical and mental effects upon victims?
Kaplan has been in the forefront advocating for anti-gun legislation. She has heard the survivors’ and victims’ stories.
Kaplan cannot be bought by the NRA. Never. She will always be transparent about where she stands on this issue.
There is no more time to waste waiting for the Republicans to pass anti-gun legislation in the Senate, so that the governor will then sign as he has promised. No more children can die.
Therefore, we must do the right thing and replace Phillips so that New York state can finally enact the legal protections against gun violence sorely needed.
I urge all residents to vote for Kaplan on Row A as your new state Senator in the 7th District on Election Day, Nov. 6.
Sandra Yousefzadeh
Great Neck
