NYC's anti-gun unit won't mean much if bad guys walk free

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

In New York City, they don’t particularly care for guns. They have very strict laws that keep firearms out of the hands of a lot of good, decent people.

Criminals, as we all know, don’t follow these laws. They do what they want to do and get weapons however they can and think nothing of breaking the law to do so.

Advertisement

This is where the latest incarnation of the NYPD’s gun unit comes into play. They supposedly catch the guys with illegal firearms.

Then the court puts them right back on the streets.

Four men allegedly busted with weapons — including some that were loaded — by the NYPD’s new anti-gun unit were allowed to walk free within hours of their arrest, thanks to lax judges and bail reform, The Post has learned.

The NYPD said the new Neighborhood Safety Teams made 25 gun arrests in their first three weeks since launching in March, but The Post was only able to obtain court records or information for 12 of the cases.

Of those 12, just one man remains behind bars — meaning 11 of the defendants are back on the street, including the four who were cut loose with no bail. The others had posted bail that was set in their respective cases.

The Brooklyn DA’s Office said that despite Rottenberg’s statements in court that the charges were bail eligible, bail couldn’t actually be set on the firearms count under state law.

Recent changes to the controversial bail guidelines that were passed in the state budget still wouldn’t have allowed prosecutors to ask a judge to hold Malvar, the DA’s office noted. Starting May 9, judges can only set bail for felony firearm possession charges if the defendant had previously been charged with having an illegal gun and is then found with one again.

The NSTs — a revamped version of the NYPD’s controversial anti-crime unit disbanded in 2020 and a key pillar to Mayor Eric Adams’ fight to curb gun violence — launched in March in response to the city’s surge in gun violence.

Advertisement

Now, I’m not a fan of gun laws in any way, shape, or form.

However, I can’t help but note the inconsistency we keep seeing in such notoriously anti-gun places as New York City. They demonize firearms, treat their very existence as evidence of evil…then let criminals who break the laws these same folks said were necessary walk free.

It makes absolutely no sense to me at all.

More than inconsistency, though, there’s a profound inability to make any meaningful connections between cause and effect.

Something we all learned in elementary school–that if you do certain things, there will be an effect that results from that action–is too much for some people to comprehend.

They wanted bail reform, then violent crime skyrocketed, and they keep putting those accused of those crimes back on the streets without even a slap on the wrist. Hell, at least one of those arrested admitted he was carrying a gun, for crying out loud. It’s not like this guy was innocent.

But, that simply doesn’t seem to matter. Which means that it’s unlikely this gun unit will get much accomplished in the grand scheme of things.

Advertisement

Remember this when the violent crime rate in New York doesn’t go down.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Sponsored

Advertisement
Advertisement