NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday signed a law that makes guns illegal in Times Square, even as New York state appeals a recent ruling by a federal judge who struck down key parts of the state law that enables the city’s “gun free” zones.
The legislation signed by the mayor sets the physical boundaries of what constitutes Times Square and designates it as a “sensitive location” where guns are banned, including for concealed carry permit holders, except in limited circumstances like police officers and active-duty military personnel.
“This is the heart of our city,” the mayor said at the signing ceremony. “There is no place like this that has the volume of people we have compact in one location.”
Asked why legal gun owners shouldn't be allowed to carry a gun in Times Square, the mayor said it's a matter of the density of people. He said if there were 475,000 people in Times Square at any given time and 1,000 of them were legal gun owners carrying a firearm, there’d be hundreds of people pulling out their guns if a shot goes off.
“Now you have 1,000 people with guns out trying to determine who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy. There’s no sign on your forehead, saying, ‘I’m the good guy,’ ‘I’m the bad guy,’” the mayor said.
Adams said it would lead to New York becoming “Dodge City.”
“This is not an assault on gun owners, this is an assault on making bad decisions that could impact the lives of innocent people,” he said.
The mayor also signed a second law Tuesday that he said will help the city track data from illegal gun trafficking within the five boroughs. It requires the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice to coordinate with the NYPD to issue an annual report on illegal guns, with the first report due on Dec. 1, 2022.
The new laws takes effect immediately, the mayor said.
New York City began posting signage in Times Square weeks ago to warn visitors that guns are prohibited in the area.
New York state’s law, called the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, went into effect on Sept. 1. It was in response to the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the state’s previous concealed carry law in June.
Last Thursday, U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby struck down key elements of the state’s new law, finding them unconstitutional and in violation of the Second Amendment.
The state can't ban people from carrying guns in New York City's subway system or Times Square, the judge ruled, though he said it did have a right to exclude guns from certain other locations, including schools.
Several of the state's new licensing rules went too far, he wrote, including one that required applicants to be of “good moral character,” and another that made applicants turn over information about their social media accounts.
The end result was a licensing scheme that prohibited people from carrying a handgun for self-defense unless the applicant could persuade licensing officials that they wouldn't use it to hurt themselves or others, the judge wrote.
New York Attorney General Letitia James' office filed an appeal hours after the ruling Thursday, saying in a statement, “While the decision preserves portions of the law, we believe the entire law must be preserved as enacted.”
On Monday, James asked the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to keep the state’s new gun law in effect as the state appeals the judge’s ruling. In her motion, James said keeping the law in place was a matter of public safety as the appeals process plays out and that it would “preserve the status quo.”
The city Law Department said Tuesday that the city can enforce the new law after the federal judge’s ruling because the judge stayed the decision for three business days, so the state’s law remains in effect as the city and state await word from the U.S. Court of Appeals following James' motion Monday.
The judge's stay was for three business days—Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday, because Monday was a holiday—so the city expects to hear further determination from the Second Circuit by Wednesday.
Adams said Tuesday that the city will ultimately follow whatever the courts decide.
“We’re going to make sure we’re in complete conformity with whatever the court determines, and that’s the way it’s going to play out,” he said.
Legislators rewrote the state's handgun laws this summer after a Supreme Court ruling invalidated New York state's century-old system for granting permits to carry handguns outside the home. The high court struck down the state’s longstanding requirement that people demonstrate an unusual threat to their safety to qualify for such a license.
The new law broadly expanded who could get a handgun license, but it increased training requirements for applicants and required them to turn over more private information, including a list of everyone living in their home. The state also created a long list of places where firearms would be banned.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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