Incorporation is coming and Mayor Mike knows it. From the NY Times, “Bloomberg Plan Would Simplify Gun-Permits“:
“The Bloomberg administration announced on Friday that it was moving to simplify the process for New Yorkers to obtain gun permits, thus speeding up a set of byzantine licensing requirements that gun-rights advocates have long criticized as among the most restrictive in the country. Administration officials said that the move was forged by a City Hall focused on efficiency and that it would allow for better investigation of applicants who might not qualify for a gun while more swiftly satisfying those fit to have them …”
Bullshit.
“… “If I were working for the mayor in New York, in the legal department particularly, I’d be saying: ‘Are we sure we can defend these laws? Are there things to do, ahead of time, that will make it easier for us to defend them?’ ” said Paul Helmke, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “I would be surprised if that were not the thinking.” …”
Helmke speaks the truth (for once).
They can’t defend the Sullivan Act. It’s been kept alive through decades of poor legal challenges and bad court decisions. None of this addresses the core issue of discretion and the need for a license just for possession of a handgun. This is just an attempt to buy time. New York operates under the notion that there is no right to own a gun. Incorporation will change that and force New York, including New York City, to accept that.
The time has come for state-wide validation. Bloomberg will whine about non-city residents carrying in NYC the same way he did about national carry. NYC…truly a state unto itself.