New Yorkers, keep your guns at home if stepping out in public: Mayor

Amid the brightly lit, flashy electronic boards at New York’s Times Square, you’ll soon spot another sign flashing on your face across the bustling crossroads—“gun-free zone.”

Authorities confirmed that starting Thursday, it will be forbidden to carry a gun, even concealed, in the Times Square district among other public places in the city and the state of New York.

New York Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday the new signs will clearly mark the city’s public places as “sensitive locations,” where even licensed gun holders will be prohibited from entering with a firearm unless authorized by law.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he was determined to ban assault weapons across the US in the wake of a string of recent gun attacks in the country.

More attacks
On Wednesday, a 15-year-old boy was taken into custody for allegedly shooting and injuring two fellow students of Washington’s IDEA Public Charter School, DC Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee told reporters.

The incident at the intersection of Lee Street and 45th Street comes just two days after police in East Oakland took into custody a 12-year-old boy for shooting his classmate at the Madison Park Academy.

DC police have confiscated more than 2,000 illegal firearms this year, about 800 more than at this time last year, Contee said.

Meanwhile, Detroit police on Wednesday charged 19-year-old Dontae Ramon Smith with murder for randomly opening fire on passersby during a two-hour shooting spree, killing three people and injuring another.