After the U.S. Supreme Court expanded private citizens’ rights to carry firearms \u2014 ruling against a long-standing New York statute late last month<\/a> \u2014 Brooklyn resident Miriam Perez took up firearms training with a military friend in Virginia.<\/p>\n Perez, 55, is single and lives in the borough’s Clinton Hill section, a diverse neighborhood dotted with brownstones and corner stores. A lifelong, streetwise city girl, Perez is always aware of her surroundings. She will not walk dark streets alone and avoids certain subway lines. A few close calls with predators prompted her vigilance.<\/p>\n Despite being cautious, Perez knows it’s hard for her as an unarmed woman to escape a determined criminal.<\/p>\n “I cannot defend myself against a gun,” she said, adding that firearms training is a precaution. “I don’t know if I will own a gun, but I can see the importance of it,” she said.<\/p>\n A child of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Perez is a social justice advocate who knows first hand the struggles of working-class minorities. Her own parents juggled several jobs at factories and as a longshoreman while she lived with an aunt in Harlem in her youth.<\/p>\n As a single woman in Brooklyn, she also sees the dark side of city living. Crimes happen randomly \u2014 like the mass shooting at a subway station in nearby<\/a>Sunset<\/a> Park.<\/a><\/p>\n\n In New York City, crime increased by 27.8% between May 2021 and May of this year, according to the New York City Police Department.<\/a> Each of the seven major crime categories saw increases, led by a 42.1% increase in grand larceny, a 28.3% rise in burglary and a 26.2% increase in robbery, officials said.<\/p>\n![\"Miriam](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/07\/13\/PNJM\/7425714c-4c6c-4b20-9691-59415a16c258-miriamshooting.jpg?width=660&height=660&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/figure>\nBruen ruling prompts changes in NY, NJ gun laws<\/h2>\n