Bronx DA Wants 'Gun Violence' Strategy. SCOTUS May Give Her One

MikeGunner / Pixabay

New York City has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. Stuff New Yorkers take for granted would create riots in most of the country should they be passed at a federal level. For New Yorkers, this is just the way it’s always been for them.

Advertisement

Yet those laws aren’t shielding them from the harsh reality of the 2020s, apparently.

Like almost every other major city, the Big Apple and its five boroughs are experiencing a major uptick in so-called gun violence. Now, the Bronx DA wants a strategy to deal with the issue.

Bronx D.A. Darcel Clark says she’s “destroyed” by the recent wave of gun violence in the borough — a crime spike that included five fatal shootings in five days in a single Bronx precinct.

“I live in the 47th Precinct,” Clark said at an “emergency meeting” on gun violence at the Miracle Revival Temple in Mt. Eden Wednesday, referring to the district where the stunning wave of deadly shootings occurred. The precinct covers parts of Wakefield and adjoining northern Bronx neighborhoods.

“When those gunshots happened, those homicides happened right by my house. I know what my community goes through because when they hear it, I hear it,” she said.

Clark said she’s calling on police, clergy, civic leaders and the community to come up with a strategy to fight the violence.

I understand how Clark feels. I’ve been far too close to too many shootings myself not to feel similarly. I get it.

Advertisement

Luckily for Clark, a new strategy for dealing with the violence may well be coming down the pipe for her, but not from the mayor’s office, the state legislature, or Congress.

No, it may be coming from the Supreme Court.

Remember that New York is the subject of a case before the Court to determine if the state’s “may issue” concealed carry law violates the Second Amendment. With a court stacked with pro-Second Amendment jurists, it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine that “may issue” just might become “shall issue” everywhere in the United States.

That includes New York City, of course.

Because more people will be able to get their permits, that means more law-abiding citizens milling about with firearms themselves. That’s likely to create some kind of impact on violent crime. In particular, it’ll likely drive it down.

Criminals don’t want to tangle with people who can fight back. They like their prey nice and docile. That means the possibility of people with guns may drive many criminals to consider something of a career change.

Advertisement

As for the gangbangers who are a big chunk of the problem, the idea that they might get shot by someone other than their target will start to play on their minds. Especially after a few of their buddies find themselves on the wrong end of a law-abiding, armed citizen. They might decide to try a different approach to settle their differences.

No, not all–some people are just too stupid to learn the lessons, after all–but enough will learn that violent crime will drop. Clark will get what she wants.

I’m going to guess this isn’t how she wants to achieve it, though.

Oh well. She’ll learn to cope, I’m sure.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Sponsored