NY ‘Crisis’ is ‘Family Breakdown, Law Enforcement, Not Guns’ Says Justice Expert

Gun Control iStock-496689884
Gun control IMG: iStock-496689884

U.S.A.-(AmmoLand.com)- While New York Mayor Eric Adams and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have declared a “crisis” of guns plaguing the Big Apple, a criminal justice expert with the Manhattan Institute is disputing that argument, instead asserting to Fox News, “We have a crisis of family breakdown and a crisis of law enforcement, not a crisis of guns.”

Heather Mac Donald told Fox News Digital there are fewer guns in New York than in other places around the country, including the neighboring state of Vermont, where it is legal to carry openly or concealed without a permit, and there is no problem with violent gun-related crime there.

Mayor Adams and DA Bragg blamed guns in the aftermath of a shooting that left one police officer dead, another in a hospital fighting for his life, and the alleged killer—a convicted felon allegedly on probation and armed with Glock pistol reportedly stolen in Maryland back in 2017—reportedly died from wounds to the head and arm. The pistol he used was reportedly equipped with an aftermarket 40-round drum magazine, illegal in New York.

The gunman was identified by the New York Post as 47-year-old Lashawn McNeil. According to the Post, the murder weapon was a 9mm Glock, but in his remarks to the media, Mayor Adams said it was a “.45–caliber modified gun.” Calls to the mayor’s office and the Post were unable to confirm which was used, although the newspaper published photos purported to be the gun, and it was a 9mm Glock Model 17 Gen 5 with a drum magazine inserted.

All of this is known to Adams, yet during a speech Monday about his plans to bring an end to violence in the city, the former cop declared, “We must pass legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales.”

If the murder weapon was stolen as reported, there was no background check when McNeil acquired it, and Adams should know it.

So, when Mac Donald—whose impressive resume includes her work as a contributing editor to City Journal and being a New York Times bestselling author—told Fox News Digital “The per capita rate of gun possession in New York is much lower than in many other parts of the country that have zero drive-by shootings,” it should get some attention.

Mac Donald in 2016 wrote what has become an almost prophetic bestseller, The War on Cops: How the new attack on law and order makes everyone less safe. Her background includes an appointment by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to a task force at the City University, and several writing awards dealing with law enforcement issues.

Quoted by Fox News, Mac Donald asserted, “Law enforcement has been demonized and demoralized by the Democratic falsehood about endemic police racism. Alvin Bragg, like progressive prosecutors across the country, has announced that the crime of resisting arrest will no longer be prosecuted, thus sending the message that the lawful authority of the police (and the police themselves) deserve no respect. Other laws are not being enforced, sending the same message. The criminals have heard that message loud and clear and now believe, not without justification, that they can prey on the innocent without consequences.”

A Bragg spokesperson reportedly countered Mac Donald has the DA’s position “all wrong.”

But 3,000 miles to the west, in Seattle, a case is currently unfolding that adds ammunition to Mac Donald’s observations.

In a message to the press, including AmmoLand, a spokesman for the King County (Seattle) prosecutor’s office detailed the case of a man who now faces the felony charge of Unlawful Possession of a Firearm in the second degree. Prosecutors wanted him held on $10,000 bail, which the judge reduced to $2,500.

According to the charging documents, the suspect was spotted by Seattle police on Jan. 15 holding a rifle outside of an apartment building. The spokesman noted the suspect “has convictions for Domestic Violence Assault and Harassment from 2011.” This man’s background includes convictions for fourth-degree assault/domestic violence and harassment, plus theft. He fled inside an apartment building, and when contacted by two officers, he reportedly argued he had a right to openly carry a firearm.

Open carry is legal in Washington, but not for people with DV convictions and outstanding warrants.

The suspect managed to escape but six days later, Seattle cops spotted him driving a pickup truck. They knew he had a suspended license, so a traffic stop ensued. He argued for a few minutes according to the police report, then drove away, finally stopping in a bank parking lot, where he was arrested. At the time, there were two active warrants, one out of the neighboring city of Renton for $15,000 and another in King County for $5,000. Since 1998, he’s been the subject of 16 other warrants, and prosecutors argued that if he were released, he probably would not return for a scheduled court appearance on Feb. 7.

When police finally took him into custody, they found a semi-automatic rifle in the truck with “no serial number or manufacturer markings.” The rifle had a loaded magazine containing four rounds. It may have been the same rifle he had days earlier when he escaped.

Back in New York City, Mayor Adams said last year, police confiscated “over 6,000 guns” from people and so far this year, they’ve “taken 350 illegal guns off the street.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, during the first six months of 2019, according to Adams, “New York City courts rendered 405 criminal verdicts. In the first half of 2021, these same courts rendered only 18. There is currently a backlog of 4,000 gun cases in the New York state court system.”

Clearly, as Mac Donald intimated, the problem isn’t guns, but perhaps offenders who seem to be rotating through the courts just long enough to be charged, apparently with no follow-up.

New York’s permitting process is being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. A ruling is expected sometime late in June.


About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

Dave Workman

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DDS

During the Dark Ages, if a rock rolled down a hill, then struck and killed someone, the rock could be, and often was, tried for that person’s death. In most of the civilized world, we have advanced past the days of holding an inanimate object responsible for its behavior. But that is not true in Leftist controlled jurisdictions in the USA, where a gun can be held responsible for the murder of two police officers. But, for the moment, let’s play it by their rules. In this particular case, the Glock pistol reportedly left Maryland, went to New York City,… Read more »

swmft

gun went to ny to meet up with ammo gang

Finnky

Like most migrants, trip was motivated by money. Perhaps NY needs to put money into “economic development” programs with which they pay guns to stay in other states. Since guns cannot provide legal consent or have checking accounts, program will have to work through gun owners. May I suggest owners enroll their gun in the program, and every month in which gun does not enter NY they send $10 to the owner? Kind of a back door registry, but for $120/gun-year i’d buy several knowing NY was going to pay for them over a few years – thereafter contributing to… Read more »

swmft

im waiting for new york to start paying criminals to not commit crimes like some west coast cities

swmft

sad isnt it

uncle dudley

As a former cop Adams knows that it wasn’t the guns fault and no amount of new laws will stop criminals when they want to commit a crime.
Why don’t they admit that they have a criminal problem and blame themselves for the stupid laws that don’t put criminals away.
This type of story is being played over and over in democrat controlled cities and states.

Deplorable Bill

It’s NOT the tool that is used to murder with. Murder started when Cain murdered his brother Abel. Murder has been going on ever since. There are no degrees in death. Atom bomb, rifle, pistol, knife, edged weapon, skill saw, hammer, bricks, rocks etc. will all kill. It’s not the tool that kills, it’s lack of accountability. When I was in grade school, many decades ago, several things were common place; The national anthem was played and we ALL stood up and put our right hand over our hearts, we said the pledge of allegiance, there was a prayer. These… Read more »

Green Mtn. Boy

Along that line of thought I saw a couple this morning on the subject at hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwmE4npHGss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiGqR58jvaQ

Deplorable Bill

Yup GMB I watched them both. Politicians have lots of reasons for not speaking the truth, many times it keeps their wallets lined. What was a nut case like that doing outside of the loony bin in the first place? Somebody, likely a politician somewhere, dropped the ball and got all three people killed.

Arm up and carry on

swmft

there has always been bad people , problem starts when “good” people dont stand against them and say no. second amendment was a nod to protection from mob rule, one man with a gun can stop many with clubs and knives. One man with a machine gun can stop hundreds. russia and china dont want religion because a righteous person with the right words can stop an army even if just for a day

FL-GA

It looks like NYC is getting ready to declare all that Glock pistols are “Assault Weapons”. I’m now declaring that NYC itself is an “Assault Weapon”, and that it should be eliminated as it poses a threat to the rest of the country.

Tionico

Just don’t go there. If eough people start acting on that it will fold like a cheap polyester suit.

Green Mtn. Boy

Exactly,who wants to visit a chithole in the first place

swmft

wall nyc up like in escape from ny there and frisco have two prisons dump all demorats there with their spawn

Last edited 2 years ago by swmft
Finnky

WTF you have against Frisco? It’s not the sleepy little country town it used to be, but then everything north of Dallas is being developed at an insane rate. Even with massive immigration it remains a reasonably conservative town.

Wild Bill

Are we all discussing San Francisco sometimes known as Frisco because San Francisco has not been a sleepy little town for more than a 160 years?

BadBilly21

I believe the firearm used was a Glock 45 9mm. It’s basically a G17 frame with a G19 slide. The illegal (in NYC) drum mag is only relevant in this case if the thug fired more than 10 shots.

Rob

Are you saying this was a custom Glock? All the .45 Auto Glocks on their web site have nothing to do with either G17 or G19 parts.

JSNMGC

Glock model 45 (chambered for 9mm).

JSNMGC

I was addressing Rob’s comment:

“Are you saying this was a custom Glock? All the .45 Auto Glocks on their web site have nothing to do with either G17 or G19 parts.”

BadBilly21 mentioned a Glock 45 (model 45), not a Glock chambered for .45 ACP.

Thanks for reading my comment.

KK

“We must pass legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales.”

REALLY?

That has been “THE LAW” in NYS since April 2014 when the NY SAFE Act became law. All private sales must go through an FFL and background check.

It’s a real pain-in-the-ass for legal gun owners, it is a way to establish a registry that is up to date because the government “see’s” every change of ownership – AND CRIMINALS DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ANY OF IT!
It doesn’t inconvenience THEM at all!

Green Mtn. Boy

The New York Marxist’s are not satisfied with just Effing up New York they are now hard at work trying to Eff up Vermont as well.

Despite NRA warning, gun bill advances to House floor
https://vermontdailychronicle.com/2022/01/26/despite-nra-warning-gun-bill-advances-to-house-floor/

john

Remember as these democrats flee their own states they bring their politics with them. This has become a issue in states like Texas Georgia Montana Florida and many more. The democratic party has become the democratic socialist party it is my belief that the chinese have them over a barrel. The coronavirus is the beginning of our loss of freedom. Democrats in power can no longer be trusted along with those despicable rino republicans. The rats nest now has evolved. The supreme court has also lost its way the Biden administration will place the wrong people for all the wrong… Read more »

john

This fight has been going on in democrat run cities for many years. The choice move as I have done or stay and wonder how the same people win reelection in cities like NYC. The NRA needs new leadership and a new direction in the twenty first century. The term sanctuary city is the democratic slogan just another step to alter the American constitution in the lower courts. Each one for the sustainable goals of Un Agenda 21-2030 are a step to remove our freedoms as Americans. This United Nation document is meant to change how the world will evolve… Read more »

Cruiser

Want to end gun crime? #1bring back stop and frisk, (don’t like being stopped and frisked? too bad, stop looking like and acting like a thug.) #2 make the punishment so harsh that they won’t comit a crime using a gun, mandatory 5yrs in prison (no plea-bargin) for crimes committed while armed. #4 Bring back the death penalty, there should be no 1st degree murderers in prison, living off the state…

loveaduck

Many say stop and frisk violates the Constitution. IMO, the death penalty needs to be carried out, not when there’s a “beyond a reasonable doubt”, but when there is zero doubt.

Last edited 2 years ago by loveaduck
BaerArms

you forgot #3 let everyone have their rights you are to recognize and are not supposed to infringe on. no many are going to try when they know the target is strapped

Finnky

Are you really advocating to allow cops to harass and interfere with individuals based on the cops whim? There should be no stop without reasonable, clear and articulable suspicion that a crime is being committed.

i can just see young cops stopping and frisking all the pretty women. In many parts of the country this would work well to find out who is carrying, though first indication they get might be the flash. Justified defense of self and others is legal where I live. Should be everywhere.