Lynn city council OKs school weapon ban

LYNN – The City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday that strengthens police powers in Lynn schools and is designed to keep students from carrying weapons of any kind.Robert Ferrari, the Lynn police officer in charge of school security and emergency planning, previously told councilors the local law needed amending and clarification so that law enforcement officers can arrest those in possession of any kind of knife, spray or other weapon-like object in a school or public building.At Tuesday’s public hearing, Ward 3 Councilor and Ordinance Committee Chairman Darren Cyr said the new law gives police a much-needed tool to fight against what he described as an amazing flow of weapons into the schools.Lawrence Wentzell, a Lynn police detective assigned to the juvenile unit, noted that over the past three years, local police responded 57 times to disturbances in the city schools and were called on an additional 30 occasions for weapons-related incidents, but only six arrests resulted.Although state laws makes illegal such devices as throwing stars, brass knuckles, studded bracelets and double-edge knives, it does not address many other weapon-like devices, including paintball guns, box cutters, BB guns and blades under 2-1/2 inches in length. The new ordinance encompasses all such objects.Ferrari and Wentzell, both former school resource officers, displayed a bag full of weapons to the Ordinance Committee last month to demonstrate the magnitude of the situation.As Ferrari put it, “We want the kids to understand that if you bring a weapon to school, the action against you will be sure and swift. There’s absolutely no reason to carry a weapon to school.”