The Bruen decision was a proverbial slap down for New York City, which required so much justification that millions of New Yorkers just opted not to bother exercising their constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.

Which was pretty much the goal.

The well-connected could get a permit, of course, and people in certain lines of work could as well, but most folks couldn't.

Enter Bruen. The law was challenged and the Supreme Court saw the problems as clear as day. It was overturned, which should, at least in theory, make it viable for people to exercise their rights.

Only, it's not.

In fact, it's so bad, that even PBS recognizes that it's a problem.

• Michael Schiavone, Gun Owner:

  I applied for it recently due to the change in the law, and, honestly, to take advantage of my constitutional right.

• Christopher Booker:

  But even after the Supreme Court's decision, getting a concealed carry permit remains a complex and lengthy process.

  Just eight days after Bruen, New York state passed the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, maintaining the state's extensive background check, asking for character references to determine good moral character, while requiring applicants attend 18 hours of firearm training. DeLoca, who offers these classes, thinks it's an important safeguard.

  ...

  
  

• Christopher Booker:

  In response to the Bruen decision, New York state also restricted where you could carry a gun even if you have a permit. So-called sensitive locations like bars, the subway, and public spaces like here in Times Square remain gun-free.

• Peter Tilem, Attorney:

  They said, you know what? If we're going to be required to let people carry guns, we're going to make it so that there's no place they can carry them.

• Christopher Booker:

  Peter Tilem is an attorney leading one of the many legal challenges against gun restrictions in New York.

• Peter Tilem:

  Until this is acknowledged as a constitutional right, I mean, acknowledged in their gut, then they're going to keep trying to interfere with people's ability to possess guns. Is there another right that you can think of that you can't exercise until you get permission from the government?

• Christopher Booker:

  Tilem argues that the restrictions imposed by New York state in the wake of Bruen misses the bigger issue, curbing illegal guns.

• Peter Tilem:

  The Concealed Carry Improvement Act, the target is licensed gun owners, people who go through the trouble, go through the 18-month period, pay the fee and are clearly law-abiding citizens.

  And now we're going to target them with felony convictions if they carried into the wrong place. So, clearly, New York is missing the point.

Indeed they are.

Of course, they also have comments by gun store owner John DeLuca who acknowledges that it's very hard to own a firearm in New York. Of course, he also says he favors these restrictions, so folks in New York should keep that in mind when shopping for a firearm and for training, since DeLuca offers that as well.

I'm just putting that out there.

But the truth is that while New York can't be quite as restrictive as they'd like to be, they're still incredibly restrictive. Let's remember that, among other things, they want all your social media accounts. They want to see what you post and will make a determination if you're fit to exercise your rights based on that, among other things. That means even the wrong meme or a bit of dark humor might be enough to get you a denial.

It's ridiculous.

Bruen changed a lot of things, and it was a pretty good ruling as such things go, but New York lawmakers tried to ferret out every place they could get a restriction in and used every single one, and for what? New York isn't any safer because of it. None of them stopped a 15-year-old on his sixth arrest from having one. They've done nothing.

But the restrictions are still there and even PBS has to acknowledge that it's not a simple matter of getting a carry permit in the state. When PBS sees it and comments on it, you know it's bad.