New Yorkers have lived for decades as neutered subjects under the heel of an increasingly aggressive Albany regime laser-focused on decimating their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Residents of New York City are even more harshly subjugated by their local government’s harsh regulation of this critical civil right. New York City fancies itself a monopolizer on gun ownership, modeling itself on places like the People’s Republic of China and the United Kingdom. This un-American behavior cannot and will not be tolerated.
The American people won a tremendous victory last year when the Supreme Court of the United States overhauled a long-standing New York law in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, ruling that Americans have the right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense. Overnight, the Court remedied a century of debasement when New York State and City became shall-issue jurisdictions for the concealed carrying of handguns, meaning that citizens with clean criminal records shall be granted a carry permit if they request it. This was a huge step forward in a state otherwise backward in civil rights.
Predictably, the Albany regime greeted this step forward with simultaneous steps backward; they further restricted semi-automatic rifles in 2022 (which had already been thoroughly attacked by the NY SAFE Act a decade ago), and now over-the-counter ammunition sales are to be intensively tracked and background checked. New York’s “gun control” is quickly catching up to some of the most totalitarian states in the Union, such as New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California. These states all maintain militarized police forces and take deliberate and dogged steps to disarm their populace, leaving honest civilians at the mercy of criminals, endless waves of third-world illegals, and shoot-first robocops.
We need more guns on the streets of New York City; more guns defending homes, schools, businesses, and the everyday citizen! The New York Young Republican Club is sick of redcoat Albany seizing its arsenal, no different than what the British attempted at Lexington and Concord, and wishes to see its members’ rights restored and state-wide constitutional carry one day.
Given this complex environment, the Club will be hosting a members-only event with celebrity armorer Howard Kwok on September 27 to familiarize members with the arduous pistol and long gun application processes in New York City and to help get more civilian guns onto our streets as soon as possible. The Club encourages all citizens within its jurisdiction to become well armed and well trained.
Infringement on New Yorkers’ civil rights has been relentless; last month, Club member and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (NY-21) asked Governor Hochul to delay the implementation of a new state law that would tax and create a state-level purchase database of gun owners, a measure in flagrant violation of federal law that will endanger legal gun owners.
As the Club cements its commitment to enhancing the New Yorkers’ civil rights, we wish to praise and promote the hard work of the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), a lion for the right to bear arms and an indomitable lawsuit printer that takes on repressive domestic regimes every day. The FPC seeks to “restore the essential right to keep and bear arms in the United States” and sports “the nation’s first and largest public interest legal team focused on the right to keep and bear arms and the leader in the Second Amendment litigation and research space.” We encourage our members to learn more about the FPC and to follow their current legal battles with New York State, four of which are currently on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. We especially encourage our members to join the FPC themselves.
One day, may the ATF, National Firearms Act, NY SAFE Act, and all other legislative attacks on the Second Amendment be abolished! If the police own a weapon, so should the policed.
Be prepared. Don’t be tread on. Tread on them!