With crime exploding, why is NYPD hiding the number of pistol permits applications despite massive surge?
NEW YORK CITY, NY - In a city where crime is out of control, the police department is short on personnel, and the district attorney’s office refuses to prosecute criminals, citizens of the Big Apple are increasingly deciding to take matters into their own hands.
According to Gothamist, New York City firearms license and permit applications have more than doubled last year.
However, the NYPD holds the exact number close, refusing to say how many gun license and concealed carry permit applications it has approved. This comes amid a class-action lawsuit accusing the department of slow-walking permit applications.
The surge in applications appears related to a landmark 2022 United States Supreme Court decision (New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen), in which the court ruled that New York’s gun licensing procedure was too restrictive. In 2023, the NYPD Firearms Licensing Division received 13,369 applications to possess a handgun or rifle at home. That was 80% more applications than the department received in 2022, nearly triple the number in 2019.
The number of concealed carry permit applications jumped from 258 in 2019 to 6,751 last year, or over 26 times the number of permit applications. In the first two months of 2024, the number far exceeded the total for 2019, 2020, and 2021 combined.
It has gotten so bad in New York City that Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has ordered the National Guard to supply troops to assist the NYPD in protecting the city’s subway system. This is no knock on the brave men and women of the NYPD, but rather an indictment of the pro-criminal, anti-victim mentality embraced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
So why is the NYPD refusing to release the number of permits it has actually issued? According to Bearing Arms, that wasn’t always the case in the pre-Bruen era. The outlet noted that their refusal to be forthcoming “is more than a little troubling.”
As the outlet noted, the NYPD hasn’t always held such information close to the vest. Citing a July 2023 story, The City published the following:
According to data, in 2021, the NYPD approved 352 of 1,841 applications for permits to keep guns in a person’s home, or over 19%. In 2022, that approval rate plummeted, with the NYPD approving just 88 of 2,266 new residence permit applications submitted, or under 4%, though the approval rate may shift as the NYPD reviews additional applications.
Bruen was issued in June 2022, so it wasn’t in effect for half the year. For half the year, the NYPD wasn’t legally allowed to deny a permit for qualified applicants. However, unlike now, they at least answered the question back then. One wonders why they are doing so now.
With the number of applicants soaring, the percentage of approved permits after the issuance of the Bruen decision would be exponentially higher. What exactly is the NYPD trying to hide? Are they denying permits for no legitimate reason? And if they are, who issued the order to do so?
At a time when things
have gotten so bad that police officers are attacked by gangs of illegal
aliens in broad daylight, people are assaulted and robbed in the middle
of Times Square, and the governor calls in the National Guard, it is
clear that things have gotten out of control in New York. All citizens
want is the ability to protect themselves. And it appears that the NYPD
is denying them that right by hiding what they are doing.
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