New York authorities declare Times Square gun-free zone

Starting at midnight this Thursday, New York's tourist epicenter will become a "gun-free zone."

Times Square, which has occasionally been the scene of shootings, will be the urban banner of the policy adopted by New York to counteract the liberalization of the use of weapons in the State decided by the Supreme Court in June.

With a controversial ruling, due to the conservative majority of its judges and which revoked centuries-old legislation, the Court enshrined the right of New Yorkers with a gun permit to carry them in public, without the need to show just cause to do so.

The Democratic reaction was immediate and the State Governor, Kathy Hochul, closed the legislative year with measures to prevent the city from becoming an urban bad copy of the Wild West.

The Albany Assembly, seat of state power, declared government buildings, places of worship, health centers and nursing homes, libraries, playgrounds, public parks, the subway and Times Square gun-free.

None of the theoretically protected places attracts as many spotlights as Times Square.

But the placement of dozens of posters with a very graphic message (a weapon inside a prohibited circle, with the legend "weapon-free zone"), is disturbing not only because of how difficult it is to define the protected area precisely, since Times Square is an

urban that only with a lot of imagination or generosity can be described as a square;

also because of its practical invisibility: just six hours before the measure came into force, it was difficult to find one of the posters, little more than a laminated cardboard tied with a strap to a lamppost.

Neither as ubiquitous nor as visible as the City Council's campaign makes it out to be, the signs were still conspicuous by their absence on a whirlwind tour of the southern perimeter of the area: barely a billboard at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Bryant Park, and a pair of larger, mobile light panels at the intersection of 40th Street with Sixth and Seventh Avenues.

More police officers -a couple per demarcation- than curious people;

not a sad selfie, in the city with the highest percentage of selfies per square meter in the world.

The place of the traditional New Year's Eve celebration, the zero kilometer of dreams -it is the heart of Broadway-, is nothing more, urbanistically speaking, than a riot of neon lights and a tangential plane of what is usually considered a square.

But now that tourism is back in the Big Apple, Times Square is bustling with activity, with its Army of Disney or Marvel superhero impersonators or some other snake charmer, and any tightening of security is to the authorities a necessary investment.

In New York City alone, there has been a 54% increase in gun permit applications since the Supreme Court ruling in late June.

In the rest of the State the percentage shoots up.

The problem is finding out where Times Square begins and ends, in addition to solving back permits and that irregular and scarce signage, logistical details that are complicating the application of the measure.

The New York police had promised "gun-free zone" signs at each entrance to the designated area, but the delay was more than palpable on Thursday.

A map released Wednesday by Mayor Eric Adams's office with a well-marked grid and the location of where the signs should be posted left out key access points.

The Bruen decision may open a river feeding the sea of ​​gun violence, but we're doing everything we can to dam it.

Starting September 1, Times Square is a gun free zone.

The safety and security of 8.8 million people is my responsibility and we will protect our people.

pic.twitter.com/riehO05u3b

— Major Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) August 31, 2022

The delimitation proposed by the city is abundant, generous: from 40th to 53rd streets from north to south, 13 blocks away;

and from Sixth Avenue to Eighth and Ninth, depending on the section, from east to west, including the lobby of the touristic Rockefeller Center, the vast majority of Broadway theaters or the headquarters of the

newspaper , in addition to the terminal of Eighth buses.

A good stretch in which as of this midnight the holders of a weapons permit who venture with their weapon on them will face criminal charges, except in the case of vigilantes or individuals with a dispensation (according to the new regulations, residents in the area , retired police officers and business owners in the area, with special emphasis on 47th Street, the so-called

, an entire street lined with jewelry stores where most of the owners are armed).

The Times Square "gun-free zone" is just part of New York's response - albeit the most emblematic - to the Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state's strict firearms permit laws for being contrary, according to the majority. conservative of the Court, to the Constitution.

Another argument of the high court was the arbitrariness of the authorities when deciding, and denying most of the time, the "just cause" required by the old legislation.

However, the fact that it is now illegal to carry a weapon within that perimeter does not imply that tranquility is assured a few meters away, as evidenced by the shooting that at five in the afternoon of the same Wednesday ended the life of a woman in a nearby square.

The latest in a long series of bloody events in the city.

As in the case of abortion, New York sticks out its chest as a progressive outpost.

The case of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy has given revenue to the Democratic candidates in the primaries for the mid-term elections in November;

There is not so much agreement on the profitability of the "weapon-free zone".

Above all, beyond the porosity of a chaotic city, due to the suitability of the enclaves to be protected, another source of controversy between the Supreme Court and the New York authorities.

The ruling of the high court opened the door for the authorities to create "sensitive areas" where weapons are not allowed -schools or hospitals is the most obvious case-, but suggesting at the same time that they could not be too wide (and the delimitation of Times Square is).

Ultra-conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the ruling: “There is no historical basis for New York to effectively declare Manhattan Island a 'sensitive location' simply because it is overcrowded, because it is already generally protected by the NYPD. city".

Governor Hochul and the State Assembly responded with the wide range of “sensitive areas” in which legal weapons—another thing is the illegal ones, ubiquitous in the neighborhoods—will continue to be prohibited.

They also approved new requirements, including training courses and a much more extensive background check, to obtain a gun license.

Requirements that will also go into effect this midnight.

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