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CRIME CRISIS SOLVED! New York City Designates Times Square a ‘Gun-Free Zone’


Amid the bright lights and electronic billboards across New York’s Times Square, city authorities are posting new signs proclaiming the bustling crossroads a “Gun Free Zone.”

The sprawling Manhattan tourist attraction is one of scores of “sensitive” places — including parks, churches and theaters — that will be off limits for guns under a sweeping new state law going into effect Thursday. The measure, passed after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June expanded gun rights, also sets stringent standards for issuing concealed carry permits.

With 50 million tourists flocking to the area every year, Times Square is one of the most densely packed areas in the country and a prime spot, New York authorities say, to be designated as a “Gun Free Zone” under a new state law taking into effect Thursday that attempts to limit where guns can be legally carried.

“You actually have to say that: A gun-free zone,” said Mayor Eric Adams, who expressed bafflement during a Wednesday news conference that the city has resorted to posting signs along the perimeter of the 35-block business district as a way to keep guns out.

Police began hanging temporary signs on street poles with zip ties. On Thursday, digital street signs will be stationed across the area.

“I wish this wasn’t a topic we needed to talk about today. Had there not been a decision by the Supreme Court at the end of June, we would not be having this conversation,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said at the same news conference.

New York is among a half-dozen states that had key provisions of its gun laws invalidated by the high court because of a requirement for applicants to prove they had “proper cause” for a permit. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday that she and her fellow Democrats in the state Legislature took action the next week because the ruling “destroyed the ability for a governor to be able to protect her citizens from people who carry concealed weapons anywhere they choose.”

The quickly adopted law, however, has led to confusion and court challenges from gun owners who say it improperly limits their constitutional rights.

“They seem to be designed less towards addressing gun violence and more towards simply preventing people from getting guns — even if those people are law-abiding, upstanding citizens, who according to the Supreme Court have the rights to have them,” said Jonathan Corbett, a Brooklyn attorney and permit applicant who is one of several people challenging the law in court.

Under the law, applicants for a concealed carry permit will have to complete 16 hours of classroom training and two hours of live-fire exercises. Ordinary citizens would be prohibited from bringing guns to schools, churches, subways, theaters and amusement parks — among other places deemed “sensitive” by authorities.

Applicants also will have to provide a list of social media accounts for the past three years as part of a “character and conduct” review. The requirement was added because shooters have sometimes dropped hints of violence online before they opened fire on people.

Sheriffs in some upstate counties said the additional work for their investigators could add to existing backlogs in processing applications.

In Rochester, Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter said it currently takes two to four hours to perform a pistol permit background check on a “clean” candidate. He estimate the new law will add another one to three hours for each permit. The county has about 600 pending pistol permits.

“It’s going to slow everything down just a bit more,” he said.

In the Mohawk Valley, Fulton County Sheriff Richard C. Giardino had questions on how the digital sleuthing would proceed.

“It says three years worth of your social media. We’re not going to print out three years of social media posts by everybody. If you look at my Facebook, I send out six or 10 things a day,” said the sheriff, a former district attorney and judge.

The list of prohibited spaces for carrying guns has drawn criticism from advocates who say it’s so extensive it will make it difficult for people with permits to move about in public. People carrying a gun could go into private business only with permission, such as a sign posted on the window.

Giardino has already started giving out signs to local businesses saying people can carry legal firearms on the premises. Jennifer Elson, who owns the Let’s Twist Again Diner in Amsterdam, said she put up the sheriff’s sign, along with one of her own reading in part “per our governor, we have to post this nonsense. If you are a law abiding citizen who obtained a legal permit to carry, you are welcome here.”

“I feel pretty strongly that everybody’s constitutional rights should be protected,” she said.

One lawsuit challenging provisions of the law argued the rules make it hard for license holders to leave home without violating the law. A federal judge is expected to rule soon on a motion challenging multiple provisions of the law, which was filed on behalf of a Schenectady resident who holds a license to carry.

While New York does not keep statewide data on pistol permit applications, there are reports of long lines at county clerks’ office and other evidence of a surge in applications before the law takes effect.

In the Mohawk Valley, Pine Tree Rifle Club President Paul Catucci said interest in the club’s volunteer-run safety courses “blew right up” late this summer.

“I had to turn hundreds of them away,” he said.

(AP)



8 Responses

  1. This is not going to survive a court challenge. The state has no right to prevent someone from protecting themselves unless it can guarantee that a policeman will be available the instant they are needed, and that they will indeed protect them. In Times Square there is no such guarantee. Not only are the police minutes away when seconds count, but even if they’re right there, there’s no guarantee that they will protect you; they may choose to let you get robbed.

    Banning guns on private property without the owner’s explicit statement to that effect is not going to fly either.

    Looking at people first-amendment protected social media postings before giving them a license?! Can you even propose that with a straight face?!

  2. There’s more than ample legal precedent to protect the police for not protecting any individual. They have no obligation. Period. The exception is the protection of those in custody by the justice system.

  3. The Bronx has the highest rate of violent crime in the city. The rate of violent crime in the Bronx is close to twice what it is in Brooklyn and Manhattan and nearly three times that of Queens and State Island.

    It has a slightly lower rate of property crime than Manhattan, which experiences a lot of theft due to the amount of tourist traffic and highly concentrated population.

    But the rate of property crime in the Bronx is still considerably higher than in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Based on these statistics, the Bronx is the most dangerous borough in New York City.

    Hey, wait a minute. Why not make the Bronx a gun free zone???
    Oh right. It doesn’t fit the narrative. As Mayor Adams so eloquently told the people who voted for him, he has to hire his brother to protect him from those roving gangs of WHITE hetero males wearing those red MAGA hats. Maybe our first African American female police commissioner Keechant Sewell can clamp down on dangerous whitey. Times Square is a perfect start.

  4. There is no “crime crisis”, but there is an increase in crime over last year. Crime is way lower than 10 and 20 years ago. And for victims of crime, they suffer personal crises.

  5. Posting such a sign just points out just how dangerous the city has become. Criminals by definition will not be deterred, and legal concealed carriers, who will obey, were never the ones who posed a danger to the public

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