New York bans guns in various public places

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
2 Jul 2022 20:12

New York state issues legislation prohibiting people from carrying guns into certain public places, such as subways, collages, hospitals, and many others in light of surging gun violence.

Emergency personnel gather at the entrance to a subway stop in the Brooklyn borough of New York following a mass shooting on April 12, 2022 (AP)

The state of New York passed on Friday a law banning the possession of guns in several public places, including the landmark Times Square. The law will also require applicants seeking a gun license to prove their shooting proficiency and have their social media accounts reviewed by government officials.

The law was passed during an emergency legislative session and forced by a Supreme Court ruling issued last week, which affected New York's restrictive laws on gun licenses. The decision, dominated by conservatives, ruled for the first time that the US Constitution gave US citizens the right to carry weapons in public for "self-defense" purposes.

President Joe Biden said he was "deeply disappointed" with the Supreme Court ruling that expands the right to carry firearms in public across the United States.

"I am deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court's ruling," he said in a statement. "This ruling contradicts both common sense and the constitution, and should deeply trouble us all."

The Democrats in control of New York slammed the ruling and warned that more people carrying guns would lead to more violence in the state. The court initially ruled that New York's license regime, drafted in 1911, gave too much discretion to officials to deny permits.

"Our state will continue to keep New Yorkers safe from harm, even despite this setback from the Supreme Court," New York Governor Kathy Hochul told a news conference in Albany as legislators were discussing the bill.

The court's ruling also allowed the state to ban people from carrying weapons in certain places deemed as "sensitive", though it warned Albany against applying the label too broadly.

Additionally, the Supreme Court ruled that regulation on arms ownership was likely "unconstitutional" were it not to be similar to the sort of regulations put in place in the 18th century in light of the ratification of the US Constitution's Second Amendment. The amendment allowed states to maintain militias and defended the right to "keep and bear arms."

The law passed by New York on Friday, according to Reuters, made it a felony for people to carry a gun into a list of places that included government buildings, medical facilities, places of worship, libraries, playgrounds, parks, zoos, schools, colleges, summer camps, addiction-support centers, homeless shelters, nursing homes, public transit including the New York City subway, places where alcohol or marijuana is consumed, museums, theaters, stadiums and other venues, polling places, and Times Square.

Several people were shot, injured in a shooting in #NewYork subway station in #Brooklyn. #NYPD has issued an advisory to avoid the area of 36th Street and 4th Avenue area in the city. pic.twitter.com/bKUIIYqPRQ
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) April 12, 2022

The National Rifle Association slammed the New York state ruling as a "flagrant violation" of the Supreme Court ruling, claiming that it obstructed "self-defense rights" in New York and noting that they would raise legal challenges to the law.

The new regulations do not ban New Yorkers from owning guns; however, they only require applicants to meet with the licensing officer, which will usually be a judge or police official, for an in-person interview. Applicants will be required to provide the contact details of some immediate family members and any adults they live with, as well as a valid reason for why they might need the weapon they seek to obtain.

The law makes also it a felony to carry a gun into private business premises unless the business explicitly declares concealed weapons as welcome.

The ruling comes less than a month after a mass shooting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, over a month after a school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, and almost two months after a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York City.

US public figures and gun-control advocates urged the US government to take measures that would ensure mass shootings could not happen again. The spike in mass shootings in the US peaked over Memorial Day weekend — spanning Saturday, Sunday, and the federal holiday on Monday, with at least 12 mass shootings.

The US Senate passed on last week a bill aimed at curbing the gun violence ravaging the United States, which has been particularly rampant over the past couple of months. The bill that passed the Senate floor includes narrow restrictions on firearm ownership and allocates several billion dollars to mental health and school security funding.

The legislation in question includes background checks for anyone under the age of 21 seeking to acquire a firearm and allocates $11 billion in funding for mental health support and $2 billion for school safety programs. It also provides funding to incentivize states to implement "red flag" laws to remove firearms from people perceived as a threat.