Nearly 6000 weapons seized from New York schoolchildren this year

The New York City School Safety Service seized 5931 weapons from students this year, according to the Security Agents Union. ABC7.

This worrying trend has plagued the city's school system since the start of the year.

When someone finds a weapon in a school, more are brought the very next day. Because the kids say, “They have guns, I’ll bring them too,” explained Gregory Floyd, head of local 237.

Floyd said school security agents were taking brass knuckles, stun guns, knives and metal pipes from students. This is a problem that is exacerbated in urban schools. She was first reported in the news in 2016.

Floyd said school security agents have seized 24 handguns this school year, when they usually only take a handful of weapons from students.

In December, students at Susan E. Wagner High School on Staten Island went on strike to protest the increased shootings on campus. Last month, a 15-year-old Maspeth High School student shot and killed another student a few steps from the school building.

On the subject: Adams wants to install weapons detectors in the subway: because of this, fares may rise, and queues will increase

As evidence, Floyd showed the reporter the video footage from the surveillance camera. It shows how a gun fell from the belt of a student at Port Richmond High School in Staten Island while he was riding on the back of another student in the hallway.

Last month, Mayor Eric Adams drew attention to the number of guns students bring to city schools.

He showed three loaded handguns that had been seized a week earlier by school security agents. One of them was found in the backpack of a 13-year-old teenager.

Adams pleaded with parents to inspect their children's backpacks and rooms

“Parents are not only parents,” he remarked. “They are lifeguards.”

Approximately 2000 vacant school security agent positions need to be filled. Prior to COVID-19, there were 5500 school security agents in the city, but that number has dropped to around 3500. The NYPD said the city is missing several hundred security agents.

Even if the city decides to hire more school security agents, it will take 17 weeks to prepare them for the position.

The NYPD declined to answer a question about how many portable metal scanners they have for city schools.

"The NYPD is not commenting on specific security measures," the department said in a statement.

If you want to know how many weapons were seized from your child's school this school year, visit the database "Guns in schools". If your child's school isn't on the list, then the NYPD didn't file any gun seizures at the school.