On Monday, New York City Police Department (NYPD) officials posted a 90-second video on its webpage that was unusual, to put it mildly.
Someone thought it was a good idea to share images of a pile of pistols, rifles, and shotguns being melted down in a furnace. The accompanying caption crowed that these weapons were destroyed, “never to cause harm again.”
Authorities in the nation’s most populated city collect an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 weapons from criminals annual, though its unclear how many lawful firearms stolen from good citizens end up melted down.
Official boasts of thousands of weapon siezures
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that her department has seized some 4,500 illegal guns thus far in 2026.
“From ghost guns that make it nearly impossible for law enforcement to track down suspects, to assault-style weapons that wreak havoc on our streets, to illegal guns stealing the lives of many young people, we all know the gravity and importance of police work,” Tisch said in a diatribe against guns but not criminals. “Thanks to collaborations across our communities and levels of government, New York continues to turn the tide against gun violence.”
The larger question left unanswered is if public safety is enhanced by any degree whatsoever through this ceremonial burning of constitutionally protected weapons at the stake.
Safer streets are not the result of gun confiscation
It’s quite the simple thing to argue without a shred of evidence that an action resulted in an outcome that would not have occurred without that impetus. Cause and effect.
But New York City officials are far too confident that better crime numbers magically spawn from their opposition to “ghost guns.” In truth, tens of millions of Americans are armed today who were not just a short time ago, and hundreds of millions of ready weapons are in legal hands.
If the Big Apple is indeed safer, it’s also safe to say that stripping the right to keep and bear arms from law-abiding citizens and melting firearms in pots did not make that happen.
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