NYC district attorneys see ‘nightmare’ as more people are allowed to carry guns

New York City’s district attorneys said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing more legal gun owners to carry their weapons publicly presents a “nightmare” for public safety that will likely give people “more ready access to guns.”

But they cautioned that most firearms flooding city streets will remain illegal.

“I want to be very clear: if you have an illegal gun today, it is still illegal until and unless you get a license,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told the Daily News. “We still have very strong gun laws at our disposal, and my office will continue to aggressively prosecute gun crime and hold violence drivers accountable.”

The landmark opinion written by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas found New York’s “proper cause” provision — which for 108 years prohibited most legal gun owners from carrying a firearm in public — violates the Constitution by preventing “law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs” from exercising their Second Amendment right.

The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, an affiliate of the NRA, brought the 2020 case on behalf of two men denied a concealed carry license by state police for “general” self-defense. It argued the Empire State’s strict gun law violated their rights by only allowing them to “keep” their guns at home but not “bear” them in public.

In the wake of the decision released Thursday, Gov. Hochul said she would ask the Legislature to return for a special summer session.

Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez, whose borough handles the majority of gun possession cases, said the ruling potentially opens the door for “millions” to carry a gun on city streets.

“New York’s strong gun laws have saved lives for more than a century, and the Supreme Court’s decision to open the door for millions of New Yorkers to carry a concealed weapon is a nightmare for public safety,” said Gonzalez. “Evidence is overwhelming that states with permissive gun laws see much higher rates of gun deaths — from accidents to suicide, domestic incidents to street crime.”

Queens’ DA Melinda Katz said the decision will hinder efforts to curb gun violence and that it “creates undue burden on the commonsense gun laws” that have long been the law of the land in New York.

“We are fighting a gun violence epidemic in the Bronx and across the nation. This decision makes it easier to carry firearms in public places, which will inevitably lead to more gunfire in our communities,” said Bronx DA Darcel Clark.

Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon said the ruling “drastically jeopardized the safety of New Yorkers and made the job of police officers...much more dangerous.”

At Bragg’s office Thursday, lawyers were analyzing the ruling and crafting gun safety legislation to mitigate its impact. Prosecutors have been examining its implications for cases where a defendant was ineligible for a gun license, never applied for a pistol permit, or applied and was denied.

In a recent interview prior to the ruling, chief of appeals Steven Wu told The News the Manhattan DA’s office was preparing to train prosecutors on applying the opinion to open cases and refining arguments ahead of a likely rush of appeals. He didn’t anticipate the ruling will meaningfully impact the majority of people charged solely with weapons possession.

“Many of the defendants have not even applied for a license before or would have the ability to get one,” said Wu.

Correctly anticipating that the ruling would overturn the longstanding licensing regime, Bragg recently told The News he didn’t believe it would transform the city into the Wild West overnight. But he expressed concerned about the ripple effects of expanded gun rights in an already saturated market.

“(It) may be that people in New York have more ready access to guns,” said Bragg.