'We should be afraid': Supreme Court decision could aggravate gun situation on NYC streets

Welcome to Fear City 2.0. New Yorkers should fear what will happen on the streets of the city if the Supreme Court strikes down a state law requiring a concealed carry firearms license, Mayor Adams said on Thursday, May 12. Daily News.

In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court will rule on a case brought by a New York gun group. It calls for the repeal of the long-standing gun licensing law. Adams said at a press conference in Harlem that he anticipates what the high court will decide.

“Remembering how the Supreme Court ruled on abortion, we should be afraid,” he told reporters, referring to a rumor that the Roe v. Wade reproductive rights ruling had been overturned. “So now we are looking at what can be done with our lawyers.”

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The New York State Riflemen's Association filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court. She argues that the licensing law violates the Second Amendment. And it allows issuing permits for concealed carrying of weapons only to those who can present “good reasons”.

If a court overturns a hundred-year-old law, the consequences could be enormous.

During oral argument in the case last year, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito suggested it was unfair that law-abiding people could not carry guns on the New York City subway. While the rest with illegal - can. The remark caused alarm among gun control advocates. They interpreted it as a signal that Alito and other conservatives in court were inclined to strike down the law.

Adams made fighting gun violence his top political priority. He hopes the city can designate areas, such as schools and subways, where guns will be banned even if the Supreme Court strikes down licensing requirements.

While the number of shootings is down slightly from the same period last year, rates remain well above pre-pandemic levels.

The situation was exacerbated by a series of recent high-profile shootings. Including the shooting on Tuesday, May 10, in the Bronx, in which a 25-year-old suspect was killed and an NYPD officer was wounded - he became the eighth police officer to be shot dead in the city this year.

On Thursday in Harlem, Adams highlighted a surge in arrests involving firearms. He blamed weak laws for the incessant violence.

“Keeping the shooters off the streets is still not going well,” he said. “So start passing judgment on those shooters. Change the parts of the laws that allow shooters to return to our streets. This is what we need".