Mayor: Gun advocates’ plan ‘just so dumb’

Mayor Adams blasted gun rights advocates Friday — as well as their argument that “good guys with guns” save lives — saying simply that their position on the issue is “dumb.”

“This is not Jesse James and the Sundance Kid, who can draw the fastest, you know?” he said, responding to a reporter’s question about that pro-gun argument. “For those who are stating that, if all the bad guys have guns, let’s equal it out by having all of the good guys have guns, that is just so dumb.”

In recent days, Adams has expressed grave concerns over a looming Supreme Court decision that could lead to the repeal of a longstanding state law requiring gun owners to be licensed to carry a concealed firearm. The situation, Adams has said, should make New Yorkers “very afraid,” and he predicted that a repeal of the law would have a “major impact” on New York City, which has struggled mightily with violent crime over the past couple of years.

The lawsuit, which is now with the Supreme Court, was filed by the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association. That group argues that the state’s licensing law around concealed firearms violates the Second Amendment because it limits people’s right to bear arms.

The court’s decision is expected in the coming weeks. It will come after a recently leaked preliminary ruling from the court revealed that it intends to overturn its Roe v. Wade decision, which has granted women the right to get an abortion for nearly 50 years.

Adams contends that repeal of New York’s conceal-carry law would inflame an already difficult situation when it comes to violent crime and proliferation of guns — especially handguns — in New York and other big cities.

The struggle against street crime has led Adams to make fighting it the top priority in his administration. And while shootings have dipped slightly recently, they remain much higher than what they were prior to the pandemic.

Adams has given himself credit for police removing more than illegal 2,500 guns from the streets since he became mayor, but he’s blamed the courts for not setting bail high enough on defendants who might pose a danger if released. In a city as densely populated as New York, he’s argued that the proliferation of more guns — that are also legal — would not help matters.

“Some of these shootings that we’re seeing, people are in dispute because someone cut them off on the streets. People are in dispute because someone got upset on the subway system. People are in dispute because of the silliest things,” said Adams, a former NYPD captain. “There’s a tendency that people believe, if they have a gun, why have it if I’m not using it? That’s just the mindset of carrying a gun. We have to rid our streets of guns from good guys and bad guys so we don’t have this violence.”