Orders to carry weapons are detonated in New York, amid armed violence | The State

Photo:
Brooklyn DA’s Office / Courtesy

Fight the violence unleashed in NYC with more legal weapons? It may seem absurd, but some also think that it would be a partial solution, considering that most of the current carriers still use them without permission, resorting to traffickers and smugglers.

For various reasons – looting, unemployment, penal reform, cutting the police budget and releasing prisoners to avoid contagion-, in 2020 shootings doubled in NYC, leaving more than 1,700 victims, between dead and injured. At the same time, on average 88% of those arrested on weapons charges that year were back on the streets.

In that panorama, nearly 9,000 New Yorkers applied for gun carriages in 2020, but the NYPD has approved fewer than 1,100, highlighted New York Post.

There have been 8,088 applications for first permits – not renewals – to carry pistols and rifles in NYC since March 22, when restrictions related to the coronavirus went into effect. It represents more than triple of the 2,562 submitted between March 22 and December 31, 2019, according to NYPD statistics.

Only 1,087 applications were approved in 2020, far less than the 1,778 granted during the same period in 2019, according to official data. So, the approval rate in 2020 was less than 14%, compared to almost 70% the previous year.

Outside, in streets, residences, businesses and public transportation, shootings rose almost 98% in 2020 year, and homicides about 39%, according to NYPD.

“It is not surprising that more people want guns (…) They push people on the Metro tracks. People are being robbed. It’s because crime is increasing, ”said an unidentified police source. “People want to protect themselves.”