Quote:
Originally Posted by legion
I despise Bloomberg. He switched to Republican to get himself elected then went "independent" (Democrat) as soon as that scam worked. Now he is trying to get himself a lifetime appointment (removing term limits) like his idol King Richard II of Chicago. He has no respect for the Constitution, in particular the Second Amendment.
I completely understand why Burress would want to carry a gun. NFL players have been very public victims of several crimes (including murder) lately. The question should be why is he being deprived of--and prosecuted for exercising--the right to self defense. His only punishment should be his medical bills.
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I don't think it's a Second Amendment issue at all. The City has procedures in place for individuals who have a demonstrated need for a concealed weapon to lawfully obtain one. We may disagree over the reasonableness of those regulations, but they have been tested by the appellate court and upheld as constitutional. Cf. the Chicago or DC "absolute prohibition" rules.
Basically you have to show that you are handling cash, or work in security, or that there is a reasonable likelihood that you will be required to defend yourself with lethal force, a fairly high bar. Then it takes about 6 months to get the permit, not because it takes that long to process, but because a federal judge in the 1960s said that longer than 6 months would be "unreasonable."
For everyone else, a "premises" license for a long gun or handgun is just a matter of going through the administrative process, trekking out to Queens, getting the application, paying the fees and waiting.
In any event, he, or his security staff, could have probably qualified to lawfully carry incident to their protection of their principal. Fact is, he did not avail himself of the lawful route and will be prosecuted as a result. The facts are NOT that he had a lawfully obtained permit in another jurisdiction and was "in transit" or that he had a lawfully obtained permit in NYC and was still being prosecuted in contravention of his Second Amendment rights.
Even the most ardent Civil Liberterians, myself included, agree that there should be reasonable limitations on the ability to carry a concealed weapon in public. No bank, no airport, no gun shop, no Latin Quarter nightclub!