The state and city of New York aren’t fans of the right to keep and bear arms. For years, they prohibited just about anyone from getting a concealed carry permit. Once Bruen said they had to knock that off, they started making it virtually impossible to carry one lawfully and started using every limitation they could think of to try and at least look like they were adhering to the decision.
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They’re not very convincing, mind you, but they’ve tried.
Now, the city is having a massive problem. They have National Guard troops on subway platforms and are experimenting with new technology to try and keep guns out of the gun-free transit system.
But gun control works.
In fact, it works so well, New York City’s buildings commissioner wants his inspectors to not just have arrest powers, but to carry firearms.
The head of New York City’s buildings department wants to grant inspectors the power to make arrests and even carry guns following complaints from agency staffers who say they’ve been attacked on the job, according to an email obtained by Gothamist.
Department of Buildings Commissioner James Oddo is pushing for state legislation that would allow the agency to designate inspectors and other employees as “peace officers,” a civil service title that would give them certain law enforcement capabilities.
Building inspectors routinely enter private residences and construction sites to check safety conditions and issue violations, and sometimes face the wrath of angry property owners or site managers. The agency currently instructs inspectors to immediately leave the area and report assaults to the police or report “aggressive” confrontations to a supervisor.
In an email to staff on Tuesday, Oddo provided an update on a bill introduced last month by State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, a Staten Island Democrat, that could allow inspectors to “make arrests, use physical force in the course of fulfilling their duties, and carry firearms provided they have the appropriate license.” Oddo said he called Scarcella-Spanton and she agreed to introduce the measure, according to the email shared with Gothamist.
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In other words, because New York City is so safe, building inspects are attacked regularly enough that their boss wants to arm them.
Meanwhile, city and state officials are doing everything they can to keep ordinary, law-abiding New Yorkers from being able to carry a gun.
Sure, they can’t prevent people from getting permits like they used to, so they just made pretty much everything a gun-free zones–many of those places are gun-free simply because the owner hasn’t expressly permitted guns–so that no one can carry pretty much anywhere lawfully. They might have a permit, but it’s about useless.
Yet they’re getting attacked, too. They’re the ones riding the subways and taking the buses only to witness people being beaten or worse.
They’re the ones getting mugged on the streets.
They’re the people being attacked regularly, and the answer to that has been to do absolutely nothing to stop the criminals, just make things harder for the law-abiding.
I’m not going to say whether building inspectors should be armed or not. I’m not going to say whether they should have arrest powers.
What I will point out is that if things are that bad, there’s no reason to keep lawful citizens from being able to protect themselves.
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