Freeport mayor defends gun carry permit

Freeport Mayor Andrew Hardwick defended his security measures and his gun carry permit at Monday night's village board meeting, but shed no new light on threats he said have been made against him.

"I have not one or two threats, I've had multiple threats," Hardwick said during a 2 1/2-minute statement at the start of the meeting. "This has been going on for some time and I'm not at liberty to give details, names and places because it's an ongoing investigation."

Hardwick said other elected officials have carried guns, but did not name any.

Freeport resident Mary Reilly, 58, told Hardwick during the public comment period that revelations of his security measures paint the community in a negative light.

"People who do not live in this village must think it is filled with thugs and gangs," she said.

Hardwick's comments at the meeting came after a report in Sunday's Newsday showing he spent $16,000 in village funds to construct new security outside his Village Hall office and had "panic buttons" to the Nassau County Police Department installed in his home and office. It was also reported that he posted armed on-duty Freeport Police officers at village board meetings and began carrying a gun.

Hardwick called attention to his security concerns earlier this year when he told a church group in a video since posted to YouTube in February that his life has been threatened "seven times" and, as a result, "the mayor carries a gun."