Under the gun
America has long been flooded with handguns and assault rifles. Today, it is utterly awash, unable to keep its head above water. Such easy access to deadly weapons, combined with a pandemic that’s unleashed economic and societal ills and statutes that in some cases have made it easier for shooters to escape consequences, is sending ever more Americans to graveyards.
And if the Supreme Court this summer issues an expansive ruling invalidating strict state concealed-carry permitting laws, all this will be mere prelude to far greater carnage. Thursday, Mayor Adams said, “Be very afraid” of this possibility. We say amen.
According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control, firearm homicides nationwide jumped an astonishing 35% between 2019 and 2020, to 19,350 — reaching the highest rate recorded in more than 25 years. Rates grew in cities and suburbs and small towns alike. The biggest increases happened in counties with more poverty. Firearm suicide rates remained high as well, at 24,000.
To this, add fresh research from Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public health showing that after 10 states dropped permit requirements for carrying concealed weapons, they saw increases in officer-involved shootings with civilian victims. That makes intuitive sense: When cops must assume anyone with whom they interact is armed, their fingers are likelier to stay close to their triggers.
The question before the high court is whether to uphold or strike down New York State’s century-old firearm permitting law, which makes it easy to get a home- or business-based permit but creates a higher hurdle for those looking to carry a handgun on their person, requiring them to demonstrate a particular need to be armed. If five justices obliterate all such “may issue” laws — which demonstrably make their states safer from gun violence — and establish a radical, national Second Amendment right to carry a concealed weapon, it will usher in open season on the cops and civilians of New York.
The Legislature is set to adjourn in early June. The decision will likely come down after that. If the court kills our gun laws, senators and assemblymembers must rush back in emergency session to pick up the pieces.