Certainly, major metropolitan cities face unique challenges in public safety, but their fallback approach to solving them is misguided at best.
New York City is a prime example. While being a city that must be on alert for terrorist acts as well as violent crime, its leaders believe the path forward is to disarm law-abiding citizens.
A glaring example of this policy is the blanket ban on firearms in Times Square, which is designated a “sensitive location.” The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and a private citizen filed suit recently in federal court against the ban.
The Constitution does not end where Times Square begins
FPC President Brandon Combs explained why his organization challenged the blanket prohibition.
“Times Square isn’t a Constitution-free zone, and the government can’t disarm peaceable people who carry for self-defense on public sidewalks and streets,” Combs declared. “This unconstitutional ban violates the rights of hundreds of thousands of people every day, so we will force the state to respect the Second Amendment—whether they like it or not.”
Licensed gun owners are forced to disarm in a vulnerable public place
The private citizen who joined the FPC’s lawsuit, Yehuda Goldberger, has a concealed carry license in both New York City and where he lives in Rockland County. Unfortunately for him, he must regularly traverse Times Square unarmed due to the law.
If Goldberger were caught with a firearm in the district, he would face up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The plaintiffs charge that the law violates the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Bruen. This established the test for gun control statutes, which must be considered against the nation’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
While government buildings generally featured armed security over the years, there is little precedent for a sweeping ban on firearms in a bustling city center.
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