2AWNY Press Conference Ahead of Buffalo School Board Wingo Vote

Confirmation actively sought from Wingo, Piwko that they will participate as plaintiffs in Second Amendment lawsuit against Buffalo School Board

June 20, 2019 – BUFFALO, N.Y. – Completely caving to the type of rampant hoplophobia that is the hallmark of New York State progressives, six of nine Buffalo School Board members voted Wednesday night to ban Masten District Council Member Ulysees O. Wingo from setting foot on district property for at least 18 months. As a result, Wingo will not be permitted to attend his son’s graduation at Hutchinson Central Technical High School on June 24, 2019.

Additionally, Riverside High School Principal Jerome Piwko has been coerced by the Board to resign as a result of the May 14, 2019 incident that precipitated Wednesday night’s Buffalo School Board vote. On that date, Mr. Piwko assisted in responsibly securing Mr. Wingo’s lawfully-carried firearm prior to participating in a scholarship award event at Riverside High School. Although the Buffalo Police found no wrongdoing related to the incident and Erie County District Attorney John Flynn has decided not to prosecute either individual, both Mr. Wingo and Mr. Piwko have become the public target of rabidly anti-Second Amendment progressives on the Buffalo School Board who wish to demonstrate their disdain for lawful concealed carry permit holders across Buffalo, New York State, and the nation.  

As reported by Spectrum News Buffalo, the six Board members who voted in favor of banning Wingo all agreed that guns don’t belong in schools — period. According to The Buffalo News, Board President Barbara Seals Nevergold said other parents have been barred from school and graduation for acts she considers less egregious than Wingo’s completely constitutional, responsible, and reasonable storage of his lawfully-owned firearm on school property.

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“I thought the function of Buffalo educators was to teach our children to develop and intelligently apply critical thinking skills to arrive at reasoned conclusions based on empirical data – not raw passion and emotion,” 2AWNY.COM Civil Rights Advocate Steve Felano said. “Apparently, I was mistaken because, in voting to ban Mr. Wingo from school property and claiming that ‘guns don’t belong in schools – period’, the six-member majority on the Buffalo School Board has made the conscious decision to completely ignore all relevant data clearly demonstrating that schools allowing lawful concealed carry are extremely safe. Likewise, they’ve chosen to ignore a comprehensive study led by Harvard and Boston University researchers concluding that New York-style gun control has been ineffective at reducing overall homicide or suicide rates. Finally, they’ve decided to completely ignore the fact that, despite the operation in Buffalo of the type of unconstitutional gun control edicts they cherish, more people were killed in Buffalo in 2018 than in each of the prior three years. With yesterday’s deliberation and subsequent vote, the majority of the Buffalo School Board has demonstrated that they are more interested in progressive virtue signaling and feeding their irrational fear of all firearms in all contexts than an honest review of the empirical data surrounding the efficacy of lawful concealed carry in schools and the constitutionality of Mr. Wingo’s actions. Given this, we must conclude that Buffalo’s public education system is run by partisan individuals with significantly less capacity for reason than the students they claim to serve. The baseless Second Amendment civil rights infringements they perpetuate will not stand.”

2AWNY.COM is now actively engaged in securing confirmation from Mr. Wingo and Mr. Piwko that they will participate in the prepared Second Amendment lawsuit against the Buffalo School Board. Involvement of said individuals, as the parties aggrieved by the unconstitutional behavior of the Buffalo School Board and New York State Legislature, would be required to establish standing to bring an effective lawsuit forward in court.

To learn more about any of the above, please contact Steve Felano at (518) 852-1863 or sfelano@2AWNY.com.

HELP FIGHT EMPEROR CUOMO IN THE SUPREME COURT

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2AWNY is a force multiplier for the numerous Second Amendment civil rights advocacy enterprises forming the backbone of Western New York’s vibrant gun culture. We act as a 2A news and information distribution, policy analysis, and organizational driver for the many interest groups seeking to defend and expand Second Amendment civil rights throughout the region. 2AWNY is dedicated to assisting in the organization, promotion, and funding of legal challenges to the unconstitutional New York State gun control regime. We seek to make Western New York the epicenter of New York State’s Second Amendment civil rights renaissance. Learn more at WWW.2AWNY.COM.