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Police, Civic Leaders to Attend South Brooklyn Gun Violence Forum Tuesday

By Alan Neuhauser | January 8, 2013 9:24am

SUNSET PARK — South Brooklyn civic leaders and law enforcement officials are joining in a community forum on gun violence Tuesday night.

The meeting, organized by Brooklyn Community Board 7's Public Safety Committee, comes in the wake of a scourge of gun violence across the city and the nation, most recently including last month's school shooting in Newtown, Conn.; last week's gunfight aboard a subway train that left two cops wounded and the gunman dead; and a fatal shooting at a Clinton Hill diner Sunday that killed a 34-year-old Brooklyn man.

"We have to send out a signal," CB7 Public Safety Committee Chairman Daniel Murphy said. "We'll let our officials know that we're concerned about this. We're not just spectators."

The forum will be held at CB7's offices at 4201 Fourth Ave. at 6:30 p.m. The commander of the 72nd Precinct, Capt. James Grant, and the precinct's community affairs officers are planning to attend, as are representatives of the Kings County District Attorney's Office.

The 72nd Precinct recorded only four shooting incidents and two murders last year, NYPD records show, which rates among the lowest in New York City. Nevertheless, Murphy and the community board's district manager, Jeremy Laufer, argued that addressing gun violence remains a vital issue for civic groups, even those located in communities with low crime rates.

"As a civic group, and as an officially sanctioned government group, we have to address this issue," Murphy said.

The goal, Murphy said, "is to have a real substantive discussion, and an educational discussion, about what are the gun laws in the city, do they need to be made stronger, or is this an issue of enforcement? We have to send out a signal. You can't let up for a second on an issue like this."