A quote that’s often misattributed to Albert Einstein says, “The definition of ‘insanity’ is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” In their petulant tantrum against the Supreme Court’s NYSRPA v. Bruen decision, which overturned the state’s corrupt, racist “may-issue” permitting scheme, New York state lawmakers finalized their list of locations where mass shooters will have free reign (archived link).

We’ve taken swift action to protect New Yorkers.

Our new legislation includes restrictions on where those with concealed carry permits are allowed to bring their guns. pic.twitter.com/BsbUEwqf8z

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) July 2, 2022

1) Houses of worship: We already have two examples of mass shooters being stopped by armed citizens lawfully carrying their guns: Sutherland Springs (in which the defender sadly was not present inside the Church) and West Freeway Church of Christ (over in 6 seconds). We also have tragic counterexamples of the Pittsburgh synagogue and the Wisconsin Sikh temple shootings where the attacker had no resistance from victims.

2) Public transportation: There’s a long history of attacks in New York’s public transit systems. Meanwhile in Israel, there’s “a quiet but steady trend of security offered by the firearm-carrying citizenry.”

3) Airports: An airport, in theory, can be a sensitive location because passengers go through security screening before proceeding toward the gates. But there have been audits showing that a shockingly high percentage of smuggled weapons don’t get detected by the TSA. Meanwhile, what happens outside the actual sensitive area? We have examples from Glasgow, Los Angeles, and Fort Lauderdale.

4) Entertainment venues: Hochul and her fellow Democrats have forgotten Aurora, CO, where a mass shooting was done at a movie theater. The movie theater was not guarded by metal detectors or any screening, and oh, it was a gun-free zone.

5) Bars & restaurants that serve alcohol: The stupidity of this category is unfathomable. Is a mass shooter going to change his plan and grab a drink when he enters a bar because alcohol is fun? What about an Italian restaurant where you get dinner with a glass of wine? Will a mass murderer will leave his weapon behind like every lawful concealed carrier who gets food there? For those who are unfamiliar with it, I recommend that you watch Suzanna Gratia Hupp’s testimony about the Luby’s massacre. Hupp left her gun in her car as the law required before entering the restaurant while the attacker obviously didn’t bother.

6) Times Square: How often have we heard of shootings in Times Square? Even under the pre-Bruen legal environment, crooks didn’t care. What’s the point of forcing lawful permit holders to leave their guns behind?

7) Polling sites: The idea behind banning guns at polling sites is to prevent voter intimidation. Most states don’t explicitly ban guns at polling sites, yet instances of armed intimidation in this day and age are unheard of. Banning guns in theory may sound great, but in the absence of armed, politically-neutral police, it’s an invitation for the very intimidation that such a ban is aimed at preventing.

8) Educational institutions: This is the most perplexing item on the list. Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Umpqua Community College, Uvalde… the list is long. Meanwhile, several states have instituted Campus Carry without incident, and some states are allowing teachers to arm themselves.

9) Daycares, playgrounds & places where children gather: Again, as with educational institutions, someone intent on killing children will now target places where children gather because lawmakers are ensuring that a defender cannot bring his/her weapon there.

10) Libraries: Why would a criminal avoid a library? Because books are scary? There are examples of libraries being attacked, and also a counterexample of an attacker being confronted in a library. 

11) All government buildings: New York is pretending that the 2019 Virginia Beach Municipal Center shooting never happened. The husband of one of the victims of that attack told his wife to break the law for her own safety (she sadly didn’t), and that’s what New York wants its citizens to do.

12) Courthouses: Courthouses meet the definition of a sensitive place. They have controlled entry and scanners. Yet, shootings happened both outside and inside the secure area, and it’s unclear if the law allows guns even outside the secure area.

13) Health & medical facilities: New York City was where the 2017 Bronx-Lebanon Hospital attack happened. Just recently, there was another hospital attack in Tulsa, OK. New York lawmakers want to guarantee that the next time a medical facility is attacked, the casualty number is headline-worthy.

14) Emergency shelters, including homeless, youth, or domestic violence shelters: A permit holder is almost invariably a lawful individual. If anything, vulnerable people like domestic violence victims would be helped by having someone who can protect them. This makes no sense whatsoever.

15) Public demonstrations and rallies: This is the new frontier for the Gun Grab Lobby. The claim is that the presence of open carried guns chills free speech. I wrote about the flaws in a Ph.D. dissertation specifically on this topic.

By this time, it should be clear to anyone with half a brain that gun-free zones are de facto government-approved Mass Shooting Zones (MSZs). Perhaps victims will be protected by NY lawmakers’ secular incantations of, “The power of Gun Control compels you!”