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New Yorkers have been clamoring to get concealed weapons permits since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 1913 state law requiring applicants show “proper cause” for packing heat.
There’s been a 54% increase in applications for carry licenses ahead of new state laws taking effect Sept. 1 in response to the controversial high court decision two months ago.
At least 1,579 applications have been filed since June 1 compared to 1,024 in the same period last year, city stats show, with big surges also seen in other parts of the state, from Suffolk County on Long Island to Erie County in Western New York.
“I never thought from the days of watching cowboy movies as a child: ‘leave your gun at the door’ becoming reality in the state of New York,” Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday on the eve of new restrictions taking effect in so-called “sensitive locations” like Times Square.
He joined Gov. Kathy Hochul at her Manhattan office to bash the SCOTUS ruling while declaring the Big Apple off limits to Wild West antics.
New state laws taking effect Thursday will bar guns from the Crossroads of the World along with bars and a long list of other so-called “sensitive locations” despite the SCOTUS ruling affecting who can apply for concealed weapons permits from the NYPD and county clerks.
“You cannot tell me this is not a feeling of being surreal [with the city] posting these signs – ‘gun-free zones,’” Adams added, referring to warnings his administration said began going up midday in a newly-defined area surrounding Times Square.
But the NYPD has yet to allocate additional resources to police the new rules, officials said Wednesday.
“We always evaluate where we deploy our resources, if there is a need to increase those resources we will do so, but as it stands now we have a robust detail that is assigned to the Time Square area,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at the press conference.
“The Supreme Court’s decision has opened an additional river feeding the sea of gun violence. We’re going to continue to use our laws to dam the rivers over and over again,” he added.
Hochul, joining the mayor, said enforcement will remain a “challenge” as the state launches a PR blitz in support of the new rules, which include requiring permit applicants to detail their social media history with officials.
“Of course, we’re going to be enforcing this. We’re not doing anything differently,” she said.
Another law, taking effect Sept. 4, raises the age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 following recent shootings by teenagers like the avowed racist who allegedly massacred black shoppers in Buffalo earlier this year.
Adams, Hochul and other officials have warned that loosening gun rules will fuel additional shootings amid an ongoing surge in violent crime.
“This whole concept that a good guy with a gun will stop the bad guys with a gun doesn’t hold up — and the data backs this up,” Hochul thundered — despite recent anecdotal evidence to the contrary — while bashing conservative members of the Supreme Court.
“That decision wasn’t just negligent. It was reprehensible,” she said at the press conference at her Manhattan office.
The Democrat called Albany lawmakers back to the Capitol in late June to pass the new laws, which have provoked criticism from gun enthusiasts for reported oversights and rumored overreach.
Second Amendment groups have filed several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the new laws though they appear on track to take effect as a new month begins.
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams joined the two leaders Wednesday in casting the new laws as necessary in light of the controversial SCOTUS decision that critics warned would unleash a wave of Wild West-style violence in the five boroughs.
“Our city has seen nearly 900 shooting incidents resulting in over 1,000 victims of gun violence — and we must never forget the victims of gun violence and the efforts to meet their needs,” Adams said at the press conference.