<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1665520399635,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000172-3377-d6df-ad7a-3fffec390000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1665520399635,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000172-3377-d6df-ad7a-3fffec390000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_65520388", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1038980"} }); ","_id":"00000183-c8c0-d791-abd3-dedd6a4b0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video Embed
While New York wants to continue to let criminals out of prison as soon as possible, the state also wants to punish law-abiding citizens for exercising their Second Amendment rights.
New York Democrats are quickly finding out that sheriffs are not on board.
JUDGE TEMPORARILY BLOCKS MOST OF NEW YORK’S NOVEL RESTRICTIVE GUN LAW
The New York Times detailed the feelings of sheriffs who live in upstate New York, away from the Democratic bubble of New York City. Those sheriffs plan not to enforce the state’s new restrictions on concealed carry — or to treat them as low-priority cases.
This isn’t much of a surprise, given that the law is invasive — it bans concealed carry on all private property unless signs specifically indicate otherwise — and unenforceable. Concealed carry means that firearms are concealed, after all, and New York isn’t bringing back stop and frisk any time soon. One sheriff even detailed how he is receiving calls about how unclear the new law is because New York Democrats can’t even competently violate the Constitution.
The New York Times also notes that many sheriffs flouted mask mandates and restrictions on private gatherings, including the size of Thanksgiving dinners, during the pandemic. It seems that the Democratic legislature that is dominated by “downstate liberals,” in the New York Times’s words, doesn’t have the grasp on how people live upstate as the sheriffs who live and work in those communities do.
Of course, Democratic legislators whine about hypocrisy. The New York Times claimed that Democratic supporters of the law think sheriffs are insincere in complaining about crime because they won’t enforce gun control laws. Democrats have no proof that laws restricting concealed carry reduce crime, which is typically committed by criminals who don’t really care about the law. They don’t need proof either, according to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
These sheriffs are right about a meddling legislature trying to dictate how people live without understanding how they live. They are right that the law is invasive, almost completely unenforceable, and likely unconstitutional. Perhaps if they were flouting abortion restrictions in red states, Democrats and the New York Times would have more praise for them.
Of course, the big difference is that abortion restrictions save lives, while concealed carry restrictions do little, if anything, to protect people from gun violence.
If New York Democrats are worried about crime, hanging a felony over someone’s head for walking into a barbershop with a legal concealed weapon isn’t going to help anyone. Giving judges more discretion in bail decisions, and no longer watering down sentences for violent crimes, would be a step in the right direction. Instead, we are left with a charade in which Democrats get mad that sheriffs won’t enforce ineffective laws, while criminals walk right out of jail just hours after being arrested.
