More than 13, 300 New Yorkers applied for permits to carry weapons in the capital last year, which is nearly a triple increase from 2022, and the force improve has boosted the New York City Police Department’s financial base range, according to a Daily News research.
This week, spokespeople for the NYPD and the office of Mayor Eric Adams said they ca n’t say for certain what is causing the rise in gun permit applications. The gun permit database does n’t reveal how many of the 2023 and 2024 applications were actually approved and issued as new licenses.
However, according to NYPD information, a surge in gun-seekers increased in the months following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Sept. 1, 2022, which invalidated a New York legislation that required candidates for concealed carry permits to demonstrate they had “proper reason” to have a tool for self-defense purposes.
With , that law , invalidated, New York applicants may obtain a enable without proving a certain self- defense need as long as there’s no other dismissing reason, such as a prior felony conviction.
David, a consultant on firearms who assists New York gun permit applicants with the application process, said the application explosion comes as he has noticed an increase in clients wanting to obtain a weapon because they are scared. Although there have been fewer serious crimes in the city recently, they still have n’t reached the pre-pandemic level.
” Definitely the most popular reason is they just do n’t feel as safe as they used to, with the protests, riots, crime”, David, who spoke on condition that his last name not be used, told The News, referring to recent demonstrations against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
The new police data reviewed by The News shows , the NYPD , received 13, 369 gun permit applications in 2023. That marked a significant jump from 2022, when the department received 7, 407 applications, and 2021, when it took in 4, 665, according to the data.
From Jan. 1 through March 3, the most recent span for which data is available, the department received 3, 358 applications, making the total number of permit claims submitted since Jan. 1, 2023 at least 16, 727. The department will experience roughly the same rise in permit claims as it did in 2023 if the application clip continues through March 3.
Gerald Esposito, owner of , Esposito’s Custom Guns in Queens,  , said he sees the increase in permit seekers as an overall good thing, but worried New York’s current weapons training requirements for applicants are too lax.
” It’s 16 hours in the classroom and two hours on the range. I took the class, which is a very basic course. I would not permit someone to hold a gun in my class. Some of the students made me afraid. One mistake could be a very bad mistake”, said Esposito, whose shop mostly caters to patrons who need customized weapons for target shooting competitions. I would like for everyone to have the right to carry a gun, but I also want to be safe.” The training needs to be beefed up or reinforced.
The News ‘ analysis of the data does not specifically address the cause of the permit application increase, but it does come at a time when surveys show New Yorkers continue to worry about crime in the city, which police data shows is still above pre-COPVID pandemic , levels.
The NYPD is projected to earn$ 6.3 million in gun permit application fees this fiscal year, which started on July 1st, 2023, and continues through June 30th, according to data provided by Adams ‘ office. The NYPD requires applicants to pay processing fees that can be as much as$ 340 per permit regardless of whether an application is approved or denied.
Of the$ 6.3 million haul,$ 1.4 million is labeled in , budget documents , as “additional” cash raised as part of a so- called , Program to Eliminate the Gap , ( PEG ) implemented by Adams in November to cut municipal spending and boost revenue streams amid fiscal uncertainties fueled by costs associated with , the city’s migrant crisis.
According to Adams ‘ spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak, the NYPD was n’t mandated to contribute to the PEG’s goal of collecting a certain percentage of gun permit revenue. She declined to comment on whether the NYPD‘s recent increase in revenue was the result of any specific actions.
For next fiscal year, which starts July 1, the NYPD expects to take in$ 2.77 million in gun permit revenue, less than half of what’s rolling in this fiscal year, budget documents say. Mamelak would n’t say why the revenue’s projected to drop that sharply.
The NYPD did not immediately make gun permit officers available for an interview.
The revelations regarding gun permits come after a , a poll from the Manhattan Institute , earlier this month revealed that 62 % of likely city voters, including majorities in all racial groups and political parties, feel the city is less safe today than it was in 2020, while only 11 % believe safety has improved over the same period.
At least some of that sentiment is supported by NYPD data.
According to the data, as of last Sunday, the city’s overall crime rate had increased by 39.3 % over the same time last year. Comparing the two figures, the number of shooting victims has increased by 16.7 % and the number of shooting incidents has increased by 11.1 %.
In comparison to 2022, major felonies are down 3.1 % and 3.9 % respectively, in comparison to the city’s prior figures. Shooting victims and shooting incidents are down even more, having respectively dropped by 39.1 % and 39.5 % when compared to 2022, the data shows.
A Nassau County gun shop owner said to The News that he has noticed more people applying for weapon permits because of “what’s going on globally,” in addition to David the firearms consultant.
” It’s taken on an extra sense of urgency”, said the owner, who spoke on condition that neither he nor his shop be named. ” People are in fear of what’s going on”.
The unit that processes all city gun permits is the NYPD , Licensing Division, housed at the department’s Manhattan headquarters.
A number of members of that unit have since been found guilty of accepting bribes in exchange for permits to be expedited. That includes David Villanueva, an ex- division supervisor who was  , sentenced to four months in prison , in 2019 after admitting he and other unit members took bribes to approve 100 gun permits that should’ve never been issued. In response to a request for comment, Melak and NYPD spokespeople for no reason did not respond. In response, no specific anti-corrupt practices have been implemented in response to the recent surge in gun permit applications.
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