New York City straphangers may notice something new as they're making their way through subway stations this week. Mayor Eric Adams says the city will be conducting a month-long test of a weapons-scanning system called Evolv starting today or tomorrow that he claims will help police identify individuals illegally carrying guns and knives. Critics, however, say the system could easily lead to an invasion of privacy for subway riders, and can be easily avoided as well. 

This week’s planned Evolv unveiling comes as police data shows major crimes in the subway system remain down as compared to the same period last year. Murders are up, though, year over year, with six so far in 2024, up from five in the same period last year.

Legal Aid and other civil rights advocates say the Evolv technology, used widely at large scale public events, is unlikely to help crack down on guns in the subways. They argue anyone carrying a firearm could just avoid walking through the scanners, which are large and must be manned by at least one officer. Advocates have also pointed to Evolv’s CEO saying in a conference call earlier this year that subways are not a “good use-case” for his company’s scanners due to the electromagnetic difficulties that come with such an environment.

Advocates’ main concern, though, is that the machines could pose an invasion of privacy for New Yorkers who use the subways to commute.

“The fact that these technologies are ineffective and frequently trigger false alarms … should serve as enough reason for Mayor Adams to scrap this misguided plan,” Akerman said.

Here's another reason for Adams to scrap his plan: New York City's designation of all mass transit as "sensitive places" where lawful concealed carry is banned is a violation of the Second Amendment. 

While the federal judiciary hasn't yet declared that to be the case, there are several challenges to "gun-free zones" on public transit that are winding their way through the court system. And as the Supreme Court noted in Bruen, sensitive places are the exception, not the rule, when it comes to our national tradition of keeping and bearing arms. 

By prohibiting the lawful carry of firearms on buses and subways (and in bus stops and subway stations), New York has essentially made it impossible for those who rely on public transportation to get around from exercising their Second Amendment rights. Sure, they can carry on the streets of New York, but once they set foot in a subway station or sit at a bench to wait for a bus they're violating the law.

According to the New York Metro Transit Authority, about 4.6 million people use public transportation on a daily basis; more than half of the New York City's total population. Only a tiny fraction of those users possess an active NYC carry permit, of course; in part because the city is still so stingy in approving permits. The New York Daily News reported back in April that more than 16,000 people have forked over the non-refundable $340 application fee since January, 2023, but the NYPD hasn't said how many of those concealed carry permit applications have been approved. 

It stands to reason, however, that a good portion of those applicants (including the chosen few who've been granted permission to exercise their Second Amendment right to bear arms) utilize the city's mass transit system on a regular basis. And if the city was actually complying with the Bruen decision and operating a true "shall-issue" system, that number would undoubtedly be even higher. The high fees that the city charges to apply for a carry permit are already pricing some residents out of their rights, while the lengthy delays in processing applications also has a chilling effect on the number of applicants. 

The plethora of "gun-free zones" in New York City is another inhibiting factor for those thinking about applying for a permit. Why pay hundreds of dollars in training and fees in order to get a permit that doesn't allow you to carry in many public settings, including public transportation? 

Even if the Evolv machines are 100% accurate in identifying subwaygoers with guns and knives, New York City won't be able to rid the subway system of violent criminals. In keeping public transportation off limits to lawful concealed carry, Mayor Adams and the New York City Council are only hurting those New Yorkers who want to be able to protect themselves from harm.