Guest post- Can you carry a concealed firearm in New York City?

Question: “Can you carry a concealed firearm in New York City?”

Answer: …drumroll… Yes. Of course. Thousands do so. Gang bangers, drug dealers, human traffickers, mafia types, enforcers.

Oh you mean LEGALLY?

That narrows it down a lot. Rich people, important people, beautiful people, such as politicians, publishers, authors, actors. Friends of the Mayor. Political contributors of the Mayor. These people can generally get a permit. On the other hand, most of these types of people don’t really need one- they are rich and can afford private security. Mayor Bloomberg lectured his inferiors on how they did not need a gun for self protection. After all, he didn’t need a gun-all this while his 8 man, gun carrying security detail stood close by.

Normal, law abiding, hardworking people? The single mom who gets home from her waitress job after walking the streets alone at 3AM. No. Your neighborhood rabbi ? No. The plumber who makes night emergency repair calls? No. The wound-care visiting nurse making house calls in a sketchy part of town. No.

Normal law abiding people aren’t important enough to qualify; they don’t have enough money or “pull”, so the powers that run the City require them, by law, to be defenseless. When one such as these winds up dead, there is a sad sigh and some “tut-tutting”, followed by comments such as “this is the price we pay for a peaceful, disarmed, society. If the victim had been armed it would just lead to more violence. We can’t have that now, can we?”

The “victim“ Class is pretty much successfully disarmed; and that pleases the Powers-that -Be. On the other hand, the criminals carry because, umm, weapons are their tools. They need them for business and social interaction. They ignore the Sullivan Weapons Law passed in 1911, and they ignore rest of the gun laws, too. Just like they ignore the murder, burglary, robbery, rape, extortion, assault and drug laws. What’s one more Penal Code violation on a charge sheet? In the mean time, they need their gun.

What happens if the unlawful gun carrier is caught?

Good question.

Maybe the gun carrier is a member of the victim class. His name is Fred. Fred is a good citizen. He is a CPA and practices tax accounting, helps with the Boys Scouts and is deacon at his church. He has never even had a parking ticket; he doesn’t even cheat on his taxes or his wife. Fred was mugged several years ago. His jaw was broken in the beating that ensued and his briefcase full of tax files, worthless to anyone else, was stolen. Fred fears a repeat and has resolved to prevent it. Fred borrowed a Glock 19 from his brother in law in Vermont and now carries it when he travels home late at night. Fred wants no trouble with anyone- he simply doesn’t want to have his jaw broken again. One night, as he peaceably walks home, a sudden wind blows his jacket open, revealing the holstered Glock. NYPD Officer Krupke observes the pistol. After a brief interview, calm and polite, Fred the accountant is arrested for illegal possession and carry. He is placed in jail.

Later that night, Officer Krupke and Officer Reagan arrest Jimmy Joe Thug on suspicion of armed robbery. There is a scuffle, Jimmy Joe doesn’t have time to actually draw the weapon he is carrying. He is placed in jail, charged with numerous offenses including “felon in possession of a firearm”, which is a New York State and Federal Felony. The Federal charge is punishable by up to FIVE years in a federal penitentiary.

What happens?

Jimmy Joe? The Federal prosecutor will not charge him with the Federal offense- too much trouble and small potatoes. Jimmy Joe, charged with numerous state offenses, has a good lawyer, and some cards to play. He gets to plea bargain the dropping of the New York State weapons charge, the resisting arrest charge, the assault on an officer charge; he agrees to plead to a lesser charge and as part of the deal, the armed robbery charge is downgraded to a lesser charge that will put him in jail for a year. Jimmy Joe Thug -Armed Professional Criminal. A year and one day in custody. A brief vacation. And then Jimmy Joe will be back in business-resolving to be slicker, sneakier and better at his business of criminal enterprise. If anything, his reputation will be enhanced.

Fred the Accountant? He has no string of serious charges with which to play cards. He is an upstanding citizen. He can’t swap a menu of unlawful activities and a lifetime of crime to make an overworked prosecutor offer him a deal. He’s just an honest man who didn’t want his jaw broken again- Nailed on a gun charge. The DA is going to make an example of him-we can’t have mere normal citizens carrying guns on the street. No plea-bargain. No morphing to a lesser offense. The full power of the Law will crash down on Fred. He may lose his CPA license. He will do a year and a day. His accounting practice will collapse. His wife will be embarrassed; the Boy Scouts will have nothing to do with him. His friends will pity him. His reputation will be destroyed.

Yes, you can carry a gun in New York City. Jimmy Joe Thug does. It’s part of his business. Fred the Accountant doesn’t any more. He figures another beating and a broken jaw is not as bad as what the Law could do to him. Again.

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Gregory K. Taggart is a Texas Aggie. He writes about firearms, and Texas law and history. Greg teaches firearm safety and the common law of self-defense. He has been an expert witness. He also designs gun ranges.