Law enforcement experts critical of NYC's gun-free zones

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

While I’ll argue none of them do anything, most people seem to agree that at least some places should be gun-free zones. Even the Bruen decision–easily the most pro-Second Amendment decision in Supreme Court history–says there are some places so sensitive that banning guns there makes sense.

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So it’s unsurprising that places like New York City are tripping over themselves to determine as many places as possible as “sensitive” and declaring them gun-free zones.

However, some law enforcement experts are critical of just what they’ve done.

Law enforcement experts are raising their eyebrows over New York City’s “gun free zone” law, which established a perimeter lined with laminated signs prohibiting the public from carrying firearms within, as one longtime police executive said the new legislation doesn’t “make sense” and is “extremely confusing.”

“I didn’t like the idea of setting up special zones where permitted gun carrier holders could not go,” said Terence Monahan, formerly the highest-ranking uniformed member of the New York Police Department.

Monahan spent just months shy of 40 years with the NYPD before he retired as Chief of Department in 2021. He said when he first heard the news of the “gun-free zones,” it “didn’t make sense.”

“It’s going to make things very confusing for police officers on the street dealing with it,” he told Fox News Digital. “If someone is law enforcement, retired law enforcement, they’re allowed to have firearms in these zones. But other permit holders have to stop at a certain street and turn around if they have their firearms, can’t go into certain stores or locations.”

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So, basically, there are two sets of runs on gun-free zones, which really will create some degree of confusion with police officers.

However, Monahan isn’t the only one critical of this. Yes, his time as a police officer and the high rank he held should lend a certain gravitas to his arguments, but even some politicians in New York City are critical of this who mess.

But not without some pushback. Brooklyn City Council Member Kalman Yeger argued Wednesday that the council neglected to fully address the citywide gun violence, NY1 reported.

“The people who are doing the crime in the city, the people who are killing each other, are not the guys with licenses,” Yeger said, according to the report.

I never thought I’d agree with an elected official in Brooklyn about much fo anything, but Yegar absolutely nailed it. People with licenses are not the issue and never have been. In fact, from what we’ve seen, concealed carry license holders are less likely to commit a crime than pretty much every other group out there, including police officers and judges.

Honestly, this race to declare entire segments of New York City as gun-free zones is problematic anyway. That’s not what the Bruen ruling meant when it talked about sensitive places. Justice Clarence Thomas never intended Times Square to be lumped in with schools and courthouses.

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New York, however, has made a game of trying to skirt what the ruling laid out. They’re playing with people’s rights and doing so in a way that only empowers criminals.

Even experts in New York City can see that. Too bad more lawmakers can’t.

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