New York City Politicians Attack Guns, Not Crime

For decades, NRA-ILA has pointed out that gun control advocates are disingenuous when it comes to public safety. Anti-gun politicians and the agencies and jurisdictions they control seek to encumber and disarm law-abiding individuals in any manner possible, while at the same time failing to vigorously enforce the law against dangerous criminals.

Consider a pair of recent stories from arguably the gun control capital of America, New York City.

On November 15, the New York Post ran a story with the wild headline, “Migrant with loaded AR-15, suspected Mexican cartel member freed from jail after alleged assault on NYPD cops.” According to the item, a 20-year-old “migrant… was hit with assault, gun possession, resisting arrest and trespassing charges after being nabbed urinating in a subway tunnel on Nov. 5 — while lugging the assault weapon in his backpack.” The report indicated that two police officers were injured trying to take the individual into custody.

An item from the New York Daily News stated that the firearm “was loaded with 25 live rounds and had a defaced serial number.” Further, the paper noted that the young suspect has two prior arrests.

According to the Post, the alleged criminal was released after posting $25,000 bail.

The suspect is innocent until proven guilty. However, it is instructive to consider how the reported facts line up with federal, state, and local gun control laws.

Possession of a firearm in New York City requires a license (handguns) or a permit (rifles and shotguns).

Possessing so-called “assault weapons,” such as the AR-15, is prohibited by state law (NY PENAL § 265.02(7)). Possessing so-called “large capacity ammunition feeding devices,” including a magazine with a capacity greater than 10 rounds, is prohibited by state law (NY PENAL § 265.02(8)). Possessing a “firearm, rifle or shotgun which has been defaced for the purpose of concealment or prevention of the detection of a crime” is prohibited by state law (NY PENAL § 265.02(3)). These state crimes are punishable as class D felonies.

NY PENAL § 265.01-e, “Criminal possession of a firearm, rifle or shotgun in a sensitive location,” provides,

1. A person is guilty of criminal possession of a firearm, rifle or shotgun in a sensitive location when such person possesses a firearm, rifle or shotgun in or upon a sensitive location, and such person knows or reasonably should know such location is a sensitive location.

2. For the purposes of this section, a sensitive location shall mean:

…

(n) any place, conveyance, or vehicle used for public transportation or public transit, subway cars, train cars, buses, ferries, railroad, omnibus, marine or aviation transportation; or any facility used for or in connection with service in the transportation of passengers, airports, train stations, subway and rail stations, and bus terminals;

…

Criminal possession of a firearm, rifle or shotgun in a sensitive location is a class E felony.

New York has claimed that this is an important statute, defending against challenges to its dubious “sensitive location” gun ban in the federal courts in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022).

The New York Post article pointed out, “It was not immediately clear” if the migrant suspect is in the U.S. lawfully.

Federal law (18 USC §922(g)) prohibits firearm possession by any person,

   (5) who, being an alien–

(A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or

(B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa (as that term is defined in section 101(a)(26) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(26)));

A violation of this subsection is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.

Federal law (18 USC §922(k)) provides,

It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to transport, ship, or receive, in interstate or foreign commerce, any firearm which has had the importer’s or manufacturer’s serial number removed, obliterated, or altered or to possess or receive any firearm which has had the importer’s or manufacturer’s serial number removed, obliterated, or altered and has, at any time, been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.

A violation of this subsection is punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment.

Given the plethora of gun laws on the books, and the suspect’s other alleged conduct, a jurisdiction interested in public safety might have found a way to keep this gentleman off the streets.

The next tale reiterates the Big Apple and its anti-gun politicians’ indifference to crime.

On November 18, a deranged man allegedly went on a cross-Manhattan stabbing spree that left three New Yorkers dead. The suspect’s lengthy criminal record and history of mental illness has led many to question how the city deals with crime. Even New York City Mayor Eric Adams noted, “He was sentenced a few months ago, and there’s a real question that we need to look at on why he was out on the streets, and he has some severe mental health issues that should have been examined.”

Discussing the suspect, NBC News reported,

[the suspect] was released from a New York City jail on Oct. 17 for time served on burglary and assault charges, records showed. Records showed that he is alleged to have committed grand larceny by taking property from a Manhattan store on the day he was released.

And earlier this year, [the suspect] was charged with multiple crimes in neighboring New Jersey, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.

The piece went on to note, “In total, [the suspect] has been arrested eight times in New York City in the past year, court records showed. He also has been arrested in Ohio and Florida.”

A New York Post editorial titled, “New York let a crazy career criminal roam the streets and now three people are dead,” added, “In May, [the suspect] spent time in the Bellevue psych ward, where he assaulted a correction officer.”

The sister of one of the suspect’s alleged victims had a more reasonable position than the city’s anti-gun but soft-on-crime politicians. She said of the suspect, “He has committed many crimes…He is on the loose, and it should not be like that. We need security for the city.”

Given anti-gun politicians’ demonstrated inability or unwillingness to tackle violent crime using the existing laws at their disposal, any demand to further encumber law-abiding gun owners should be rejected out of hand.

—Courtesy NRA-ILA