Two Shootings In New York City Show Need for Concealed Carry

Though it’s been more than three years since the Supreme Court struck down New York’s “may issue” licensing laws as an unconstitutional violation of our Second Amendment rights, it’s still extraordinarily difficult to get a New York City carry permit. The cost of simply applying for a permit will run you $340 dollars, and getting the mandated training will cost several hundred dollars more. 

Then there’s the lengthy wait times to be interviewed as part of the application process, with folks left in limbo for a year or longer before they can even sit down with an NYPD licensing official. While the number of permit applications has increased since Bruen came down, the department is mum on the number of permits that have been issued. Suffice it to say that in a city with more than 8-million residents, only a relative handful of New Yorkers are lawfully bearing arms on a daily basis. 

Late Sunday night, one of them managed to get the drop on an armed robber, fatally shooting his attacker. In this case it was an off-duty NYPD officer, not a concealed carry holder, but the incident only demonstrates that New Yorkers should be able to defend themselves against violent predators without having to wear a badge so they can legally carry a gun. 

 A 30-year-old perp fatally shot after pulling a gun on an off-duty NYPD cop in a botched robbery was an illegal migrant who had been involved in three other violent thefts just hours earlier, sources told The Post.

Lahione Soto, of the Dominican Republic, died after he was shot by the cop outside a residential building at West 173rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Washington Heights late Sunday.

Soto, who had crossed the US border in El Paso, Texas, in June last year, was one of two moped-riding perps who ambushed the off-duty officer, the sources said.

The migrant and his alleged accomplice, who was still on the run as of early Monday, are accused of carrying out three other gunpoint robberies in the lead-up to the fatal encounter with the cop.

An illegal immigrant had no trouble whatsoever getting his hands on a 9mm handgun and using it to commit multiple armed robberies, but good luck getting the proper paperwork to exercise your fundamental right to bear arms in self-defense against other predators roaming the streets of New York. 

Instead of being able to defend themselves with a firearm, most New Yorkers are like the victims of another violent crime that happened on Sunday night; disarmed and defenseless. 

Two deli workers were shot while trying to stop an armed robber in Queens, according to police.

The armed man allegedly held a 48-year-old worker at gunpoint inside the deli at 84-48 Manton St. in Briarwood around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, authorities said.

The robber allegedly took $800 from the register and began making his way towards the door when a 52-year-old worker tried to stop him, officials reported.

That’s when the armed man allegedly fired multiple shots at both deli workers, then ran down Main Street, police said.

If either of these employees had a gun on them, this could have had a far different outcome, and it might have been the armed robber recovering in the hospital today. 

New York City is facing multiple lawsuits over its permitting delays, but in many cases the plaintiffs are given their permits after they get an attorney involved, so it’s difficult to get a good court decision that would force the NYPD to start processing every application in a timely manner or at a reasonable cost. As a result, the city’s a more dangerous place than it should be… at least for the law-abiding. Armed robbers, carjackers, and rapists, on the other hand, don’t have to worry too much about the possibility of their victim having a gun of their own. 

Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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