What? What! The NYT wonders whether it's possible that "gun free zones" aren't stopping criminals
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Maybe they should try “Love Lives in this Home” signs.
We’ve all seen signs announcing a particular place is a “gun-free zone.” While these signs are supposed to reduce gun violence by informing would-be shooters that their firearms aren’t welcome on the site, the reality is that they are instead beacons alerting criminals to soft targets.
And it looks like the New York Times may have finally figured that out. After a murder took place in Times Square on Thursday night, the paper openly questioned why posted signs banning guns from the area didn’t stop the violence. “The shooting was the first since the creation of the expansive, signposted zone, the police said in a statement, and it immediately renewed questions about whether such a designation can truly protect the area,” the so-called paper of record reported.
“People feel emboldened to carry guns on the street,” said Tom Harris, a retired New York City police inspector and the president of the Times Square Alliance, told the Times. “A gun-free zone is not going to stop a criminal from carrying a gun.”
And in coincidental, but surely unrelated news, that MSU shooter, a Mr. Anthony McRae, turns out to have been a felon who was only recently released from prison .
He was sentenced to 18 months in state prison in November 2019 after being convicted of possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle. He was released from supervision in May 2021
Federal, state and local laws all separately forbid felons from possessing guns, yet somehow, this criminal wasn’t stopped. It’s a mystery.
