It was not very long ago when concealed carry permit holders were allowed to possess their firearms on the subway system.
Granted, there were relatively few of those in the nation’s largest city, but those fortunate enough to be able to freely exercise their Second Amendment rights could legally have their firearms while they rode with the masses.
But in the mad dash to curb carry rights after the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, that right disappeared.
So, how’s that working out for the Big Apple?
According to the New York Post, gun arrests on the rail system are up a staggering 94% compared to just 2019. Thus far in 2023, NYPD transit officers conducted 37 gun arrests compared to only 19 in 2019.
Department data showed that police made 54% more arrests for gun possession on subways this year, a dramatic surge over the 24 carried out in the same period of 2022.
This increase is credited by some to restrictions placed on officers pertaining to searches. A veteran Manhattan police officer told the Post, “People who carry guns carry them everywhere. And everybody’s got them now because they’re not getting stopped and frisked.”
Some city leaders believe the surge in arrests is a good sign for the public, and they point to an overall drop in crime in the underground system. Chief of Transit Michael Kemper noted that subway crime is 5% lower so far in 2023, with four of six major crime categories dropping.
Burglary is up 43% and felony assault rose 4% according to NYPD figures.
Kemper said a crackdown on minor crimes resulted in more gun busts. “We’re stopping people for fare evading and we’re coming up with loaded guns and every loaded gun we recover is one less gun that’s in the hands of someone that could shoot.”
And despite the surge in guns present on subways, this year there have only been three shootings with four victims. Last year there were nine such incidents resulting in 18 victims. However, that high tally was largely due to one mass shooting in Brooklyn.
It was April 2022 when 64-year-old Frank James allegedly shot and wounded 10 on a crowded subway.
Some riders dismissed the official line that violent crime in the system is now lower. One assault victim, Gladys Chen, asked what the metric was for determining that “subway crime is down.”
Chen, who was recently punched while waiting on a train, added, “Subway crime is down where…because anecdotally, are you kidding? How can that be when that woman was pushed at 53rd and 5th the other day?”
She referred to a 30-year-old female victim who required brain surgery after being shoved into a departing train in the middle of the day last Wednesday.
In the meantime, officers are concentrating on acts such as turnstile jumping, and they believe this led to the nearly doubling of gun arrests in 2023. Fare-evasion summonses have been issued 103,066 times this year, a 54% surge over the same time in 2022. Officials believe these increased encounters directly led to more gun confiscations.
However, even if the suspect is illegally carrying a gun, police sources say it is highly unlikely they are going to jail. In light of this, it would be far better for the city to simply scrap the prohibition on lawful gun owners from carrying on the transit system.
Violent crime is present and likely at a far higher rate than officials want the public to believe. Concealed carry permit holders would be another line of defense against criminals who prey on potential victims trapped in confined spaces.
