When New York Democrats crafted their legislative response to the Supreme Court's decision striking down the state's "may issue" carry laws, they decided to make scores of places that were previously open to concealed carry off-limits to lawful gun owners. That included all parks in the Empire State.
New York City has its own ban on lawful carry in public parks. In fact, the prohibition on firearms in Central Park dates back to the mid-1800s, when the commissioners overseeing the newly established park prohibited visitors from carrying firearms. More than a century and a half later, the park may still be gun-free by law, but as recent robbery and sexual assault victims can attest, that doesn't make it crime-free by any stretch of the imagination.
Last Sunday, a woman bicycling through the park was targeted by three men who robbed her. Katherine Marroquin tried to act in self-defense, but her options were limited.
"There were three guys. The two guys grabbed my book bag, and he started emptying my book bag right in front of me. So when he empty my book bag, I think he didn't notice that my Stanley cup was there and he threw it right in front of me," she said.
Marroquin said she grabbed the stainless steel tumbler from the ground and used it to defend herself.
"The first thing I know was like, is it my life or them... it's three people by myself. I got to defend myself. Ididn't think about money or anything. I thought about my life and seeing my mom again. So, I grabbed the cup and I hit one of the guys in the head. So that's why they ran, and they left me alone," Marroquin said.
She said her book bag and helmet absorbed much of the attack.
We have no idea if Marroquin has a concealed carry permit or even wants one, but if you're forced to act in self-defense you're generally going to want something more useful than a Stanley tumbler, rugged though it might be. It's great that she was able to get the three men to back off and run away, but not every criminal is going to be so skittish.
And not every criminal is going to be satisfied with just stealing someone's belongings. The NYPD is continuing to investigate a sexual assault that took place in Central Park just a couple of days ago, where a woman was allegedly raped at knifepoint.
Police sources say the incident happened just after 8:30 p.m. near East 66th Street and 5th Avenue. Cops say a 39-year-old woman was walking when she was approached by an unidentified man who brandished a knife, led her into the park, where he raped her.
A pedestrian who saw the attack dialed 911, which sent the suspect fleeing further into the park. Officers from the Central Park Precinct and paramedics responded to the scene of the attack. The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was listed in stable condition.
Again, we have no idea if the victim owns a gun or has a valid carry permit. But even if she did possess one, she wouldn't have been able to legally carry one into or through Central Park.
These incidents are just the latest violent crimes in New York City's "gun-free zones." In the past month two New York residents have been murdered in the city's subway system, which wasn't off-limits to lawful concealed carry until 2022. A man was seriously injured and a woman was stabbed to death in Times Square in early September, and just a few days later another man was slashed and stabbed by a knife-wielding assailant in the bustling heart of midtown Manhattan.
Most of these incidents involved knives, not guns. I suppose Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani can call that a success if they'd like, but my guess is that the victims (at least those who are still alive) don't care as much about what kind of weapon was used as much as the fact that they were the targets of violent offenders.
New York City doesn't make it easy to get a concealed carry license to begin with, and once folks finally are approved they face an almost endless number of "sensitive places" where their right to carry has been declared null and void. Those restrictions help keep the number of legally armed citizens to far less than what we'd likely see if the city genuinely respected our right to bear arms, but they're not doing anything to stop violent criminals from preying on unarmed victims in a target-rich environment.
