I live in New York, which is one of the worst states to be a lawful gun owner and a taxpaying citizen. The proof is in the pudding; people vote with their feet when life becomes intolerable due to poor governance, and New York’s allegedly wonderful governance resulted in the loss of yet another congressional seat after the 2020 redistricting cycle.

It is grating to see Gov. Kathy Hochul still bragging about New York as some sort of bastion of freedom and opportunity in the face of the evidence of outmigration. Part of her braggadocio was a video her office posted on Twitter, discussing all the “good” she has done to keep the people of New York “safe from concealed carry weapons.”

A year ago today, the Supreme Court ruled to strip away the rights of a governor to protect her people from concealed carry weapons. 
 
We refused to go backwards. pic.twitter.com/lUx6BRsLBo

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) June 23, 2023

First, you don’t have “rights” as a governor; you have powers to govern, and those powers are limited so they don’t violate the rights of the people. Second, your job is to protect the people’s rights and liberties, and your matriarchal view on “protecting her people” is condescending bunk. Lastly, concealed carry weapons in and of themselves don’t do anything. It depends on who is carrying them. Criminals were carrying concealed weapons prior to NYSRPA v. Bruen and continue to carry after NYSRPA v. Bruen. However, ordinary people’s rights to carry guns in public were infringed by New York State’s discretionary permitting scheme. 

We have covered New York State’s discretionary permitting regime extensively here in the past. To summarize, if you were rich and famous, had political connections, or were willing and able to bribe the police with cash, expensive watches, or strippers, you could get a concealed carry permit. If you were in need to protect yourself, that need was not considered enough by government apparatchiks because you didn’t meet the above criteria.

Hochul’s video has more gems:

“This is a state where we protect our people. We take this responsibility deadly seriously.”

Anyone who has paid attention to New York’s crime statistics knows this is a joke. No, you don’t protect the people of this state and this responsibility has been treated as nothing but a talking point.

Here’s the rest of the transcript of her 58-second blather:

“One year ago this week, the Supreme Court’s decision to make our state more dangerous and take away the rights of a governor to protect her people from concealed carry weapons. It was a reckless and shocking decision.”

Hochul is either stupid, a liar, or both. The NYSRPA v. Bruen decision came after the Buffalo mass shooting in which a white supremacist illegally modified a New York-compliant rifle and went on to commit his execrable crime. New York already had a red flag law. It already had “universal” background checks that the shooter passed. What did it NOT have? Armed citizens able to shoot back. According to Hochul, disarming decent New Yorkers is because the State takes its “responsibility” to keep people safe “deadly seriously.”

“And we knew we had to take matters into our own hands. We could not let the status quo rest. And we said, we’re not going to surrender to this reality. So, I called the legislature back into session. I pushed for new common-sense concealed carry laws which were passed and went into effect on September 1. We strengthened background checks and required training. We banned concealed carry holders from sensitive locations. And over the last year, we’ve also been able to uphold the rights of lawful gun owners while getting illegal guns off the streets, keeping guns away from dangerous people, and most importantly, driving down the shootings. We are saving people’s lives.”

New York’s post-Bruen temper tantrum is quite bad. The “strengthened background checks” are a joke. The training burden is onerous and intended to chill the exercise of the right to keep and bear arms by the poor. It’s elitist to the core.

As for sensitive locations, again, criminals were carrying wherever they pleased before NYSRPA v. Bruen and will continue ignoring Hochul’s expanded list of “sensitive places.” On the other hand, the lawful will obey those stupid laws and make themselves more vulnerable in the process.

There are other parts of the post-Bruen tantrum laws that are useless, ineffective, and unconstitutional. Semi-automatic long guns which previously didn’t require licensing now require one. A right has been brazenly converted into a licensed privilege.

You cannot get ammunition shipped to your doorstep which used to be the case before. Guess what you can not only get shipped to your doorstep, but the State will happily ship to other people’s doorsteps out of state?

NEW: I just signed a law to protect women seeking abortion care from New York doctors. Our law ensures providers can prescribe & send abortion medication to patients in states where it is banned.

Draconian abortion bans put lives at risk. We will never back down from this fight. pic.twitter.com/pSbberSoPL

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) June 23, 2023

Yup, that’s nutty New York in a nutshell. At this point, there are only two ways out to protect the right to keep and bear arms in this State: the federal judiciary, and in the long run, swelling the ranks of gun owners and lawful concealed carriers by teaching people and creating new Second Amendment voters. (Shameless plug: there’s more in my book, “Each One, Teach One” about this very subject.) Until then, we will have to deal with the stupidity of politicians like Kathy Hochul.