Devorah Halberstam

Devorah Halberstam is an American political activist.

Halberstam is noted for her advocacy of gun control.[1] She is the mother of Ari Halberstam who was killed in the 1994 Brooklyn Bridge shooting in which an immigrant Lebanese gunman used automatic weapons to attack a van filled with Brooklyn school children. In the years following this tragedy, she "campaigned obsessively" to have her son's death investigated as politically-motivated terrorism rather than as simple murder, gradually transitioning from a parent traumatized by her son's violent death to "an authority on terrorism with close ties to law enforcement officials."[2][3] Former New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly describes Halberstam as, "a major force in the political world, and certainly those people who focus on the issues of counterterrorism know that well.”[4] She is credited with being a major force behind the creation of anti-terrorism laws in New York State.[5]

"Ari's Law"

Halberstam is credited with having been a major force behind the passage of "Ari's Law",a comprehensive New York State law controlling gun trafficking.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "The Gun Report: March 2, 2013", Joe Nocera, March 2, 2013, New York Times.
  2. ↑ "Devorah Halberstam’s path from bereaved mother to counterterrorism authority", Uriel Heilman, February 27, 2014, JTA
  3. ↑ " U.S. Decides '94 Attack On Hasidim Was Lone Act," Shaila K. Dewan, December 6, 2000, New York Times.
  4. ↑ jta.org
  5. ↑ Back at Police Plaza, Bratton and Miller recall 20th anniversary of Brooklyn Bridge shooting, Mary Murphy, March 1, 2014, WPIX.
  6. ↑ "Devorah Halberstam Honored at Director’s Community Leadership Award Ceremony at FBI New York", December 10, 2009.