Eric Adams
The Biden of Brooklyn, New York Mayor Eric Adams (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Democrat New York City Mayor Eric Adams was elected to get his city back on a path to safety. He’s instead continued down the path of his predecessors to punish law-abiding New Yorkers. He’s failed to turn the focus and resources towards those that commit crimes and hold them to account.

The result is surging crime and Mayor Adams’s recent “big announcement” was a nationalized gun control plan that will do little in his city.

Facing the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down New York’s restrictive “may issue” pistol permitting law, Mayor Adams’ plan is to instill fear. He told media, “We should be very afraid. I’m very concerned.”

The Stakes

New York is one of just eight “may issue” states that restrict concealed carry permits to law-abiding gun owners based on the whims of bureaucrats. New Yorkers must first prove they have a “good enough” reason before a government agency allows a permit to protect oneself outside the home.

This differs from other states where if a firearm owner who passes the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification and applies for a carry permit, the state “shall issue” the permit.

States with “may issue” restrictions are ripe for corruption. California and New York – specifically in Mayor Adams’s New York City – are prime examples of why the law should be struck down. In 2016, federal prosecutors uncovered a pay-to-play scheme within the New York Police Department’s licensing division where workers were paid thousands of dollars to rubber-stamp carry permits. Four officers connected to the scheme were arrested.

U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara, front right, gestures next to a chart during a news conference in New York, as he announces the arrest of four people in connection with New York City’s ongoing corruption probe. A corruption probe at the New York Police Department has drawn attention to the lengths people will go to, prosecutors say even bribery, to get a pistol license in a city with some of the nation’s toughest gun laws. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

The corruption is disgusting enough but the right for law-abiding Americans to carry a firearm shouldn’t be left to arbitrary whims and inconsistent decision makers. The landmark 2008 U.S. Supreme Court Heller decision recognized the pre-existing right of Americans to own and possess firearms for self-defense. The court will shortly rule on New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen challenging New York’s “may issue” law in the coming weeks.

False Forecasting

Mayor Adams likely sees the writing on the wall. Make no mistake, a Supreme Court ruling that strikes down NYSRPA v. Bruen is a good thing for law-abiding New Yorkers and Americans protecting themselves and their families. The prospect of “may issue” laws falling, though, has national gun control groups, President Joe Biden, New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Adams scared.

At a press conference, the mayor was asked about the imminent ruling. The city, despite his new leadership, is still facing an ongoing crime spike and violence.

“This is a significant issue for our city: it is the right to carry. After what we saw what the Supreme Court did on abortions, we should be very afraid,” Mayor Adams said, referring to a pending gun rights case. “In a densely populated community like New York, this ruling could have a major impact on us.” He continued, saying, “But we should all be concerned.”

The mayor is flat wrong. No greater example exists than the recent Brooklyn subway attack, where one individual targeted innocent New Yorkers left defenseless by New York’s strict gun laws.

This photo provided by Will B Wylde, a person is aided outside a subway car in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. A gunman filled a rush-hour subway train with smoke and shot multiple people Tuesday, leaving wounded commuters bleeding on a Brooklyn platform as others ran screaming, authorities said. Police were still searching for the suspect. (Will B Wylde via AP)

Mayor Adams isn’t offering protection against criminals, given the two-year surge in criminal violence in New York City and across the country that has seen prosecutors go soft-on-criminals, often releasing them to commit additional crimes and the rise of “defund the police” policies and law enforcement stretched thin by resignations and retirements. This was the exact reasoning raised by Supreme Court Justices during the case’s oral arguments in November 2021.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh questioned New York’s solicitor general about why the discretionary law should stand. “Why isn’t it good enough to say I live in a violent area, and I want to be able to defend myself? With any constitutional right, if it’s up to the discretion of an individual officer, that seems inconsistent with an objective constitutional right.”

Justice Samuel Alito asked, “How many illegal guns were seized by the New York Police Department last year? All these people with illegal guns, they’re on the subway, and they’re walking around the streets. But the ordinary, hard-working, law-abiding people I mentioned, no, they can’t be armed?”

The former U.S. Solicitor General arguing for permit applicants and NYSRPA told the Court, “At the end of the day, I think what it means to give somebody a constitutional right is that they don’t have to satisfy a government official that they have a really good need to exercise it or they face atypical risks.”

Words vs. Actions

Mayor Adams campaigned on getting tough on crime and returning safety to his city’s residents. His actions have shown just the opposite. He claimed while campaigning that he himself would carry concealed on the job and forego the mayor’s private security detail. Those were both false as he later admitted.

Instead of focusing on the criminals committing violent crimes and holding them to account, he’s parroted a gun control agenda that was more likely pulled from President Biden’s false talking points.

Eric Adams Met Gala End Gun Violence
Tracey Collins, right, and New York City mayor Eric Adams, wearing a tuxedo with the words “End Gun Violence,” attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

“The problem we’re facing is a problem that is hitting our entire nation right now and that is why it is a national response,” Mayor Adams recently said. “We need a national response to this issue.”

Instead of focusing on “a national response,” the mayor should focus on criminals in his city. If he’s not going to follow through on those promises, New Yorkers are right to want to arm themselves for safety and security. He shouldn’t be concerned about their Constitutional right to do so.

 

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

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47 COMMENTS

  1. Yada, yada, yada. I keep hearing about this f@cking scotus ruling. I hear everything but the ruling.

    Enough already. Speak out Thomas.

    • No doubt they’re giving alphabet agencies enough time to coordinate oversight of the inevitable “energy” that will be on display from both NYSRPA and the potential reversal of Roe. DOJ has already been notifying agencies at national and local levels to prepare for a 2020 Summer redux. Add in current inflation woes, and the protest stew is thickening nicely.

      Stay frosty.

  2. Can’t have the proletariate walking around with nasty old guns now can we? After all if they have guns we can’t impose our communist agenda on them. They might shoot us!

    • “Ordinary citizens don’t need guns, as their having guns doesn’t serve the State.” – Joey Biden….aka “You don’t need an AR-15 or 30 round “clips” (sic) to hunt deer.” (See attached picture.) Aw…..I apologize, got names confused…it was Heinrich Himmler.

      “A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie.” – President Harris. Oops, again, my bad…it was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

      “That is why our masters in Washington are so anxious to disarm us. They are not afraid of criminals. They are afraid of a populace which cannot be subdued by tyrants.” – the late COL Jeff Cooper. Criminals and dead bodies in a WalMart, a school, or a Topps Market are merely features toward their goal.

      The new agenda for humanity requires that no one will have the capacity to fight back. It has been said: “Our Task of creating a Socialist America can only succeed when those who would resist us have been totally disarmed.” No other explanation is possible.

      “He who has the Might, determines who has the Right.” There’s the gun controllers’ agenda in a nut shell. It’s all about protecting Libtard/Socialist anti-America tyrannical politicians’ asses from American Patriots with AR-15s, “high capacity” magazines, and a resolve to preserve what our Founding Fathers “pledged to each other……their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor” in order to pass Freedom, Rights, and Liberty to us, their descendants.

  3. So this is the insouciance of the gun rights movement. You think this decision will change anything outside of the strictest laws in the most Demonrat infested jurisdictions? Jerk off all you want that’s not how this system works. It’s rigged to not work in your favor.

    • +1 for usage of “insouciance”. Eruditeness (yes, that the correct noun form) on display at TTAG.

      • LOL, awaiting moderation. I guess the WordPress filters aren’t erudite enough to recognize “high English”.

        • Oh they recognize it just fine..

          Still don’t see the common factor yet?

          Perhaps consider adding… a little common sense… to your vast scholarly knowledge.

  5. Given the mayor’s age it’s really difficult to stay as fit as he is and the man looks good but he looks like a clown when he wears a suit. He should stick with slacks a shirt and tie. Less formal would be a much better look for the man. While he’s changing things he should also change his attitude towards firearms. One of the problems with being in law enforcement is that you forget that you’re also a civilian and assume that you’re the only one qualified to be armed. It’s a blind spot that a lot of officers have and it’s really difficult for them to realize that they have it.

  6. “Elected to get his city back on the path to safety…” Professional politicians invented “bait and switch.” Unscrupulous salesmen stole the idea.

  7. Hey, Mayor. How about a law…..”Thou shalt not commit a crime.” There problem fixed. Everyone knows bad guys follow every law.
    Or, “Thou shalt not kill.”
    Ooops, God already tried that. Not so good.
    Maybe Murder 1, Murder 2, Manslaughter? Ummm, there….NOT!!! How about 20,000 laws against guns. Hmmmm……not yet either.
    If you are demanding more gun control, then you are admitting that the 20,000 current anti-gun laws are ineffective. With that being said, I see no reason to humor your demand for more of the same, expecting a different outcome. According to Einstein, that is the definition of insanity.
    Politicians with laws never stop bad guys with guns.
    They only control the good guys, which is their true agenda.
    Why, Mayor, do you and your fellow Libturds want to control WE The Little Peeps? History has repeatedly taught THAT is the “NEED” for me to have my ARs and high capacity magazines.

    • It’s actually “Thou shalt not murder” Plenty of folks that needed killin in Mose’s time (and now).

      • Thank you. Absolutely correct. Had COL Cooper’s quote re “killing is a matter of intent…” rattling around in my head as I typed. Old guy can’t think and type simultaneously. Just need to supervise old guys every minute…. 🙂 🙂 🙂

  8. Again I say, only difference between him and Lurch……about a foot in height and a bunch of melanin!!

    • No shit… the first words out of his mouth at press conferences should be – – – ” You raaaaaaang ?”

  9. mayor adams is a useful idiot who resides on Jim Crow Gun Control joe’s plantation.

  10. Soooo, how scared is he (and the others mentioned)? Scared enough to crap themselves in public? Hope somebody video’s that. 🙂

  11. I personally could care less about New York and the useful idiots that live in it. They are getting exactly what they want. Otherwise they would change the political dynamic or get the HELL out. They are only held captive by the cage of their own making.

    • Careful you may cut yourself on that edge there. Kidding aside yes this is a smaller case than we wanted but could be a major deal to NY NJ MD MA RI CT HI and to a lesser extent DE and expanding the base of people with a vested interest is always a good thing.

  12. Not only does the Mayor get a city taxpayer funded 24 hour security detail, as a retired LEO he is entitled under LEOUSA to carry a concealed firearm without having to get approval from some underbribed government official.

    Which reminds me: Whatever happened to those four people arrested for corruption mentioned in the article?

    • Well, he has to qualify annually, buts let’s face it: he probably shoots expert thanks to the 9mm pencil. Like some other chiefs I have known.

  13. It seems like every time some initiative, legislation or court decision arises which enhances citizens’ right to self-defense, elected mayors and police chiefs start screaming about Dodge City or street shootouts. (When in fact they already have street shootouts regularly)
    What we should be asking is why these officials distrust citizens so little that the thought of a tax paying, law abiding citizen being able to defend themselves is so offensive to said officials.

  15. He claimed while campaigning that he himself would carry concealed on the job and forego the mayor’s private security detail.

    If I were on the city council, I’d vote to ban the mayor’s security detail. But being NYC, the council probably has their own 24/7 guards, just like Chitcago Aldermen.

  16. hes just a puppet
    you dont get to the position of mayor of a city the size of new york city
    without having a bunch of strings attached
    hes going do and say exactly what the people behind the curtain want him to

  17. That’s why I say we have no hope for change except by force. This country has been taken over by corrupt politicians for over 45 years. Everyone one that in government from the past 45 years has baggage. They all need to be put on trial and investigated.i do home work ….. 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤.𝐜𝐨𝐦

  20. “…..to give somebody a constitutional right….”

    No one is gives you a constitutional right. You have them, because they were always yours. The constitution is supposed to simply *guarantee* those rights.

  21. Decades ago, back when the FBI served the people, in a Universal Crime Report long since forgotten, they stated “In areas where a large part of the citizenry is armed, crime is lower.”

  22. Funny how we have not heard from our resident anti-gun radicals, dacian, the Dunderhead, who claims to be a “gun expert”, and Minor MINER49er not to mention a few others.

  23. As usual, the Democrat mayor is looking for something, or someone to blame for the failures of their (the Democrats/Progressives) policies and programs.

  24. Stoke fears? Of course, what else is there? The sky is ALWAYS going to fall. Remember Y2K? When the calendar turned from 1999 to 2000, sh– was going to hit the fan. Power grids were supposed to fail, computer systems would shut down. Banking institutions which relied on software programs to calculate daily interest were at risk of system failure and the list goes on. Now in hindsight and upon reflection, those that stoked widespread fears, bought generators, filled shopping carts up at the store with that same idiotic panic look I saw during the COVID buying panic and allowed their common sense to run amok would rather forget their idiocy. The sky is ALWAYS falling.

    As K said in Men In Black “There’s always an Arquillian Battle Cruiser, or a Corillian Death Ray, or an intergalactic plague that is about to wipe out all life on this miserable little planet, and the only way these people can get on with their happy lives is that they DO NOT KNOW ABOUT IT!”

    Unfortunately this isn’t MIB and we do know about it and the only way the readers here at TTAGs keep our sanity is ignoring DBs like Mayor Adams.

  25. I will only believe it when it comes out of Justice Thomas’s mouth. Until then it’s just a bunch of speculation and hope and prayers.

  26. It always amazes me that the Socialists are more concerned about law-abiding citizens being armed than the criminals who prey upon them. That shows me that they are afraid of an armed populace. Dictators want people who can’t fight back. That’s the reason our Founding Fathers wrote the Second Amendment.

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