New York Governor Kathy Hochul
New York Governor Kathy Hochul (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon)

The recent heroics of an Indiana man to neutralize a murderer in a mall shows the folly of New York’s new law restricting where law-abiding citizens can legally carry a firearm with a state-issued permit.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen decision struck down New York’s “may issue” pistol permit law. In response, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed through a middle-of-the-night gun control bill that expanded new “gun free zone” designations. Recent events, however, are proving again that gun-free zones are deadly.

‘Mass Confusion’

The expanded list of “sensitive locations” included in Gov. Hochul’s law prohibits concealed carry in federal, state and local government buildings, health and medical facilities, daycares, parks, zoos and playgrounds, public transportation including subways and buses, polling sites, schools and even publicly-utilized state forest preserves. The new law has caused mass confusion.

Lisa and Richard MacLeod own Recon Defense, a business in Greene County, New York that sells firearms and provides training and education to customers. Since Gov. Hochul’s new laws went into effect, they’ve been inundated. “Our phone has not stopped ringing. As far as what does this mean? Everyone is so confused no one knows what to do,” Lisa told media. The MacLeods aren’t alone.

Law-abiding New Yorkers are concerned they’ll be entangled in the consequences of the law. New York Republicans, state Sen. Dan Stec and Assemblyman Matt Simpson, have drafted clarifying legislation.

“Adirondack Park residents deserve better than vague answers and conflicting statements from the governor’s office and state legislators over the intent and application of their gun control law,” said Sen. Stec. Assemblyman Simpson added their bill is necessary to avoid “frivolous prosecution of law-abiding citizens.”

Delaware County Sheriff Craig DuMond criticized the legislation, saying it will backfire and expose New Yorkers to more criminality instead of making them safer. “At this rate, it will not be long until we find ourselves in a state where only the criminals have guns,” Sheriff DuMond said.

SCOTUS is Leery

Gov. Hochul steamrolled her law in response to the Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling. If she paid attention she’d know striking down the subjective law and protecting the Constitutional rights is exactly where the Court was headed.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh questioned New York’s solicitor general why the discretionary law should stand during Bruen’s oral arguments.

Justice Samuel Alito added, “Why isn’t it good enough to say I live in a violent area, and I want to be able to defend myself? All these people with illegal guns, they’re on the subway, they’re walking around the streets. But the ordinary, hard-working, law-abiding people I mentioned, no, they can’t be armed?”

Several lawsuits have already been filed, including another suit by the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, the winning plaintiff in Bruen.

A Watershed Moment

In Gov. Hochul’s home town, a deranged, racist criminal murdered 10 innocent New Yorkers at a grocery store in Buffalo. He choose the location, in part, because it was a “gun free zone” and New York’s restrictive laws would, “make it harder for someone to stop him,” reported the Buffalo News.

Halfway across the country, in Greenwood, Indiana, a deranged individual attempted to murder innocent Americans in a “gun-free zone” mall. However, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb had recently signed constitutional carry into law allowing law-abiding Indianans to carry concealed firearms.

A 22-year-old man also ignored the “gun-free zone” designation and returned fire within seconds of the attack, saving an unknown number of innocent lives. Indiana police labeled Elisjsha Dicken a “Good Samaritan” and his actions “heroic.”

There are countless examples of lawful conceal carriers putting a stop to criminals. They hardly receive the media attention that Dicken has. What’s clear is the two approaches here couldn’t be more opposite. While Governor Holcomb empowered citizens to protect themselves, Gov. Hochul chose to double-down on restricting rights and is emboldening criminals over law-abiding Americans. Again.

 

Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

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48 COMMENTS

  1. NY Governor Kathy Hochul Could Learn Something Important From the Indiana Mall Shooting. But She Won’t.
    Well that’s because idiots never learn anything…………….

    • Hochul and her fellow civilian disarmament ilk are not idiots: they are evil.

      A rapist is not an idiot for failing to learn about the wrongness of rape. Rather, the rapist knows it is wrong and pursues it anyway because he/she pursues anything for personal gain.

      That is civilian disarmament politicians. They know it is wrong to render people weak and defenseless–they do it anyway in pursuit of their own personal gain (at the expense of the victims).

        • But the entire point of the NY law is to make the law-abiding defenseless so they have to depend on the all-power, all-giving government. It is pure socialism in action.

    • That’s the idea, people die, gun grabbers yell “take em ALL”, a scared public eventually starts to agree. Nothing proves a gun grabbers point quite like a bunch of bodies lying around in a classroom or a grocery store.

        • what is their vision of “utopia”?

          Them sitting in a big white house on top of a big hill with ALL the “little people” groveling outside waiting for their next command.

        • “You have to wonder what is their vision of “utopia”?”

          Funny you asked that question. There was a famous experiment where they kept rats in a ‘Rat Utopia’ of sorts, with literally *everything* they needed. Unlimited food, clean water, bedding materials, little cubby holes for all of them, exercise wheels, you name it.

          To say they were surprised at the results, was an major understatement :

          https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-mouse-utopias-1960s-led-grim-predictions-humans-180954423/

        • Where there logic fails and their idiocy abounds is that all progressives actually believe they’ll be part of that very small powerful grouping living on the top of the hill. They have no idea that they are part of the useful idiots who will be treated the same as those of us who are considered deplorables.

    • With the Libturds’ twisted reasoning and true agenda (a dis-armed We The Little Peeps), more dead bodies are further justification for further dis-armament of the peeps.

  3. The unelected gal governor seems quite dim. Even for a Dim. She won’t learn anything…

    • Get a huge sack, put Hochul, Whitmer, Pelosi and AOC inside. Shake it up real good and turn upside down. Bet all the witches fall out at the same time. Evil trash.

  4. Some guy tries to assault GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin who is running for NY governor with a knife and brass knuckles, proclaiming “you’re done,” and is released without bail a few hours later.

    And Hochul wants to talk about safety?
    I am sure she will be addressing about the attempted murder of her opponent, call to reverse the no-bail law Cuomo signed, and a ban on knives any time now.

    • Maybe the ban on knives otherwise lol no with a perfunctory condemnation of the murder attempt and no comment on the assailant being released on his own recognizance hours later. Wild to see Esposito still mixing it up with crooks after she retired though.

  7. “22-year-old man also ignored the “gun-free zone” designation…”

    It should be noted this was a mall prohibition and not a law prohibition. There were no laws broken by Dicken carrying in the mall. The prohibition by the mall has to be enforced by the mall and they do that by asking the person to leave, no one asked Dicken to leave and concealed or not its still the mall responsibility to detect violation of their policy.

    • True, but it is still considered a GFZ. I won’t let my family members go to any Indianapolis area mall without protection, regardless of what the sign on the door says. Sadly, those are dangerous places.

  8. Politics makes for some strange mindsets, even when the people are making different noises but it’s ALL about making the corporations happy, unless you live in a free state.

  9. The hopeless pathetic pompous Gun Control hochul is stuck on stupid…Sucks to be her.

  10. So, this bit is inaccurate:

    “Eric Holcomb had recently signed constitutional carry into law allowing law-abiding Indianans who pass an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification to carry concealed firearms.”

    1) Passing a NICS check is not a prerequisite for exercising constitutional carry in Indiana. The statute simply states that anyone not a prohibited person does not need to obtain an LTCH in order to carry lawfully.

    2) Constitutional carry is irrelevant in this instance. Unlike initial reporting, Dicken does, in fact, have an LTCH. In either case, he was carrying lawfully.

    • Good catch. It is only accurate if the individual carrying purchased the firearm from a FFL. If they made a private purchase or were gifted the firearm, no NICS check will happen.

      On the second point, early reports stated that he did not have a LTCH. That has been corrected by those media outlets interested in facts versus the narrative.

  11. Leftists don’t learn anything but the best ways to shove their boot on your throat.
    These tyrants cannot be reasoned with. They must be defeated.

  12. “[Clarence Thomas] HAS MADE HIS DECISION; NOW LET HIM ENFORCE IT.”

    https://sustainatlanta.com/2015/04/02/remembering-the-time-andrew-jackson-decided-to-ignore-the-supreme-court-in-the-name-of-georgias-right-to-cherokee-land/

    It was more than just 1 Alabama Governor, George Wallace, standing in a Schoolhouse Doorway. To prevent a black student from attending an all-white School. There were many governors back then, who refused to support the 1954 Supreme Court case integrating Public Schools.

    American history is repeating itself. The only question now is how many Governors this time, will refuse to follow a decision by the Supreme Court???

    President Eisenhower is just another dead president now. And no one is sending in federal troops to enforce a Supreme Court decision. You are on your own. You have always been on your own. No State Outsiders are coming to save you. You’re going to have to look to history to see how the residents of these states dealt with their own State leadership refusing to follow a Court’s decision.

    Back then the locals banded together to refuse to work with federal agents on any issue at any level.

    The most recent examples of this organized local resistance against the federal government, are the standoff at the Bundy Ranch. And when the FBI set up operations in Western North Carolina. Trying to find the Atlanta Olympic Park bomber. The Bundy Ranch resistance involved using guns. And the Bundy Family is still waking around free. As far as I know.

    But in North Carolina the local population simply refused to help the federal government at all. There were stories of the locals using laser pointers frightening the FBI agents into believing someone was about to shoot them. Using their first amendment rights they posted signs everywhere mocking the FBI. Eventually the FBI ended up leaving the area. Without arresting the bomber.

    I wonder how many flat tires suddenly appeared on all federal government vehicles in North Carolina? And how many times were those federal vehicles mysteriously getting flat tires over and over again??? Or spray paint on the auto glass???

    And I don’t recall anyone ever being arrested in North Carolina in this resistance movement against the federal government.

    And as far as I know no one was ever arrested in Parkland Florida for posting the “Broward County Coward” posters, on Sheriff’s Department buildings.

    fyi

    “Civil disobedience.”

    “the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest.”
    That was how it use to be done. In the 21st century resistance takes a different form.

    I do need to remind everyone. That there is video surveillance now of nearly everything you do out in public. This was demonstrated in the film “2000 Mules”. In that documentary the perpetrators wore rubber gloves, masks, and hoodies pulled over their heads. Making it very difficult to identify who the individual was.

    So you’re going to have to get “your hands dirty”. If you want to keep your rights. And if you’re caught???

    The secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.

  14. She looks like the end boss you have to fight after defeating all of the lesser Karens.

    • She’s the one you have to defeat in order to face Gretchen Whitmer.

  15. Buffalo ,which is in Erie County which is where’s she’s from has 90,000 people with concealed carry permits . Yet I keep reading the shooter choose Buffalo because it’s a gun free zone . Lol

    Back to hochul , she doesn’t care about the kid who saved those at the Mall, the fight is not about facts .

      • Actually he had my city on the list ,Rochester ,and had a few stores picked out , these stores like the Tops in Buffalo are not gun free zones . Our one daughter lives 1/2 mile or so from that Tops , I’ve been there bought her some windshield washer fluid , I can assure you I was armed , in 35 years of carrying in this part of NYS I’ve not once seen a no guns allowed sign .

        The kid thought these cities were gun free, just like so many others .

        • Don’t know Tops policies, only know what the punk wrote in his “manifesto/rant”. Places where I shop only request no OPEN carry and I can respect that. Only place I don’t carry is the County Courthouse and only because the two cops at the entrance ask me to empty my pockets and pass through a metal detector (even a Glock has enough metal to set that thing off) otherwise grocery stores, restaurants, Post Office, movie theater and anywhere else my travels take me I am armed.

        • Didn’t a couple of cops just get shot in Rochester? Heard one dead one serious condition by a 21 year old.

      • As far as the police officers getting shot yes , and one died . Two tactical officers watching for a murder suspect , we are by far the most violent city in NYS ,per capita . Right now there’s a gang war, RPD is down 100 officers , and few are taking the test . Many guys are working forced double shifts ,OT is going to lead to Evan more guys taking the pension .

        The first half of my career was in the hood in the 90s, I’d say I responded to 200 -300 shootings . The most in one night shift was three .

        • Hmmmm isn’t that where Zelden was attacked as well? Sounds a lot different than when I was up there in the late 90s….

    • “gun free zone” doesn’t mean the presence of law abiding gun carriers.

      It means areas where law abiding gun carriers can not carry guns but criminals can.

  16. NY state needs to split into two states, NYC and not NYC. For all their whining over the Senate and Electoral College, none of the lefties seem to have ever thought of this instead of crying about ND and SD needing to be forced (at gunpoint one would presume) to merge to diminish their individual voting power. How is it fair that you only get 1/40,000,000th of a say about who’s governor if you live in CA but if you live in WY it’s more like 1/500,000? Of course this wouldn’t tip the balance of power in their direction, so that won’t do. They’re so superficial.

    • “NY state needs to split into two states, ….
      ”

      Yeah… A New York state without democrats- and a state of not electing democrats.

  18. And all the way across the country, California Governor Noisome Newsom signed a surprisingly similar law as an emergency measure to assure that it goes into effect immediately. Meanwhile, his AG Bonta issued a letter to all sheriffs and city police chiefs “recommending” what issuers should do to make sure that applicants were of “good moral character,” rules that were essentially a rewrite of the “good cause” regulations. I think that these two states, knowing that they would lose in Bruen, have been conspiring for some time to see what steps they could take to side step the anticipated decision. None of these new laws and regulations will withstand scrutiny under the one-step Heller analysis, but thees people are supposing that it will take at least five to ten years to sort it all out.

    • “I think that these two states, knowing that they would lose in Bruen, have been conspiring for some time to see what steps they could take to side step the anticipated decision.”

      Likely so.

      So, are there any steps that can be taken to speed the process up? Is there a Federal Judge sympathetic to the 2A cause that can light a fire?

  20. Hmmm….Hochul has armed security, but wants none for her little peeps.

    “Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.” – an old white guy, Tommy, Tommy Jefferson. Are we getting warm yet????

  22. These new laws will probably be challenged, especially the prohibition on the subway. This was one place specifically identified by the justices during Bruen. New York is trying to make the whole city a ‘sensitive area’ so they can prohibit concealed carry everywhere, thus eliminating concealed carry. Will be interesting to see what will happen. You could have a hundred civilians stop illegal shootings and save thousands of lives and Hochul and her ilk will still be against firearms ownership by private citizens

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