The case, as every Second Amendment advocate knows, is last year’s New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. The arguments before the high court centered on the state requirement that an individual demonstrate a special need for self-protection to receive a concealed carry permit.
Thus, to freely exercise their constitutional rights, New Yorkers had to show that they were in some sort of danger requiring a ready self-defense. As if living in certain areas was not already enough of a reason.
A pair of plaintiffs, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, challenged the law after their applications for concealed carry were rejected over “proper cause.”
That requirement for a proper cause was found to violate the Second Amendment by a majority of the Supreme Court. The ruling declared that law-abiding citizens with normal self-defense needs do not need to prove special conditions to exercise their rights.
So-called “sensitive places” are still appropriate at times, but Manhattan cannot be categorized as such in its entirety.
And the court went further, ruling that gun control laws are only constitutional if they are aligned with the nation’s history and tradition of such regulation.
New York City officials, however, have not been quick to get with the program. In fact, the NYPD last year approved only 21% of 7,260 concealed carry permit applications according to The City. That mark is far below the 56% approval rate for the 4,663 applicants in 2021.
So, the volume of applicants in the city rose dramatically. This is almost certainly due to prospective concealed carry permit holders knowing that the high court theoretically made them simpler to obtain. Not so fast.
The stack of 2022 applications was left by the NYPD to twist in the wind. The vast majority, according to The Reload, were neither approved nor denied. Rather, their status remained in limbo as frustrated citizens waited for approval to be able to defend themselves.
The numbers are startling.
According to data obtained by The City, the NYPD took in almost 5,000 applications after June 24, 2022, through the end of the year. Barely 10% were approved and only 16 total were denied. This leaves thousands hanging in the balance for reasons unknown.
Juxtapose this result against 2019 and 2020. In the first year, NYPD officials approved 75% of the 3,771 applications received for a concealed carry permit. Applications soared amid the unsettled year of 2020 to 9,390, and the department approved 84% that year.
The 2022 total defies logic. After the Supreme Court ruled against the process that denied permits to many, New York City responded by racing in the exact opposite direction and denying thousands of their constitutional rights.
The success rate for applying to keep a gun in the home is even lower. In 2021, the NYPD approved only 19% of applications for keeping a firearm in the residence.
That number plunged to an appalling less than 4% in 2022.
New York City officials are on a collision course with the high court over their obvious refusal to abide by its clear ruling. Picking and choosing laws to uphold is the quickest way to erode trust in government at any level.
Undoubtedly there will be more challenges to the failure to follow the law of the land. The Supreme Court has the final say barring an act of Congress or an amendment to the Constitution. Personal freedoms in the U.S. do not exist at the whim of politicians, no matter how much those in New York wish to believe they do.
