Washington’s dead aim
Look around, look around, New York City, at how lucky we are to be alive right now: Over nearly three decades, Gotham has led the country in protecting ever more of its people from the ravages of violence — particularly violence at the barrel of a gun. From the peak of the crack-fueled murder epidemic in 1990, murders here have plunged by 84% and shootings by 81%, driven in no small part by the NYPD’s vigorous enforcement of some of the strongest gun laws in the nation.
Now, a very real threat to that living legacy winds its way through the halls of Congress down in Washington.
The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act — a National Rifle Association dream — would be a nightmare for cops looking to keep New Yorkers, and themselves, safe on city streets.
In a country where 55 million people, spread across states as diverse as the very landscape, own guns, reciprocity would force our densely populated city to accept lowest-common-denominator rules from places where anyone who can move a trigger finger can legally wield a firearm.
Eleven states allow residents to carry firearms without any permit whatsoever — meaning, without so much as a background check.
Florida has issued permits to 1,400 felons, 216 people with outstanding warrants, 128 with domestic violence injunctions against them, and a half-dozen registered sex offenders.
No one could legally stop a Floridian from flying or driving here, gun in tow.
It’s not that we envision hordes of violent tourists terrorizing innocent New Yorkers.
It’s that residents of New York could easily take a short trip, get armed and come back — instantly undermining every gun law we have.
Officers of the NYPD are charged with enforcing the statutes of the city and state. Under that framework, they must make split-second judgment calls about what to do when they see, for instance, a bulge in a jacket or in a pant leg.
In a world of concealed carry reciprocity, a thick fog will set in: They will have no way of knowing whether the people they encounter might be legally carrying. Which will add an untold dimension of danger to every interaction.
And since there is no national gun permit database, if this legislation — which President Trump has promised to sign — becomes law, the NYPD would be powerless to determine promptly whether a given gun permit is legit.
Imagine: Ever more armed New Yorkers able to assert that they’re allowed to carry, and cops with no way of knowing otherwise.
The danger is clear and present. And the hypocrisy from a Republican Party that 10 minutes ago claimed to revere states’ rights is enough to choke on. If you don’t get shot first.