Mayor Adams, NYPD commissioner say old rules still apply after SCOTUS strikes down concealed carry law
NEW YORK -- Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams have teams analyzing the Supreme Court ruling that struck down New York's concealed carry law to figure out ways to put limits on guns.
For now, the mayor and NYPD commissioner are making it clear that the old rules still apply, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported Thursday.
"We cannot allow New York to become the wild, Wild West," Adams said.
READ MORE: Supreme Court strikes down New York's concealed carry law
Adams and his top aides wasted no time meeting to analyze the Supreme Court decision. But while the mayor said on a scale of one to 10 it was "very close to 10 as a major concern," he and his police commissioner warned New Yorkers that the ruling shouldn't be interpreted as the Supreme Court waving a magic wand and saying go forth and buy guns.
"The important thing to know today is that nothing changes. If you have a premise permit, it does not automatically convert to a carry permit. If you carry a gun illegally in New York City you will be arrested. Nothing changes today," NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
"This is so important because we saw this during the legalization of marijuana in the state. People automatically, they only read the headlines. They thought they could go out and just sell marijuana, whatever they want. And the police commissioner's comment that nothing has changed, if you have a target permit, that is not a carry permit," Adams said.
Currently, only about 1,700 city residents have the right to carry a gun when they leave home. About 1,400 more have carry licenses issued by other counties that need an endorsement by the NYPD to carry in the five boroughs.
About 20,000 people have premises permits. Those are who the mayor and police commissioner are talking about.
State and city officials are also focusing on the language in the ruling that will allow them to limit the places people can carry guns.
"We will not allow our city to live in fear that everyone around us is armed, that any altercation could devolve into a shootout," Adams said.
"We do not need people entering our subways, our restaurants, our movie theaters with concealed weapons. We don't need more guns on our streets. We're already dealing with a major gun violence crisis. We don't need to add more fuel to this fire," Hochul said.
Watch Ali Bauman's report
In the majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas warned that guns won't be allowed everywhere, but there are limits to what are considered sensitive places.
" ... There is no historical basis for New York to effectively declare the island of Manhattan a 'sensitive place' simply because it is crowded," Justice Thomas stated.
"If the federal government will not have sweeping laws to protect us, then our states and our governors have a moral responsibility to do what we can and have laws that protect our citizens," Hochul said.
Hochul has said she will call a special session of the legislature in an attempt to pass laws that will limit the scope of the Supreme Court ruling. The city and state could allow businesses, houses of worship and mass transit systems, among others, to prohibit guns.
In a statement, the MTA said, "The presence of guns within a sensitive place like New York's transit system is an unacceptable risk. Considering this Supreme Court decision, we have begun drafting appropriate rules to keep dangerous weapons out of our subways, buses and commuter trains."
Assembly Judiciary Chairman Charles Lavine told Kramer the legislature could come back to Albany "within days."
