Alongside enormous billboards, dazzling digital screens and soaring skyscrapers, New York’s Times Square has a new addition dotting its landscape: laminated, letter-sized “gun-free zone” posters. As of September, Times Square is a legally designated “sensitive area,” just one location on a list that also includes schools, churches, theaters, and many other sites throughout the state. The law was implemented in response to the Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down the state’s concealed carry law.
“My top priority will always be the safety of all 8.8 million people who call this city home, so while the Supreme Court decision may have opened an additional river feeding the sea of gun violence, we are doing everything we can to dam it and keep New York the safest big city in America,” said Mayor Eric Adams at an August 31st press conference that addressed the new law and gun safety.
If caught possessing a gun in a sensitive area, violators are charged with a felony. According to The Law Offices of Jeffrey Lichtman, which specializes in gun law, “Federal law and New York State law both prohibit an individual with a felony on their record from getting a permit to possess a firearm.” The law forced city regulators to define the parameters of Time Square—starting roughly from 9th Avenue to 6th Avenue going west to east, and West 53rd Street to West 40th Street going north to south.
This means that shops that once considered Times Square crucial to their identity are no longer located within its parameters. A 2019 amNewYork article titled “The Drama Book Shop to reopen in Times Square” refers to a book shop that has historically celebrated the Theater District of Times Square. Its current location on West 39th Street is now technically considered outside the parameters of Times Square. Notably, the book shop’s prior location, only one street away on West 40th Street, would have been considered part of Times Square. “interview tk,” said a representative of The Drama Book Shop. This also means the book shop is not offered the same protections that stores inside Times Square are.
“I definitely do not agree to have firearms in Times Square. It’s really dangerous,” said Thomas M. Tracy, business administrator for Holy Cross Church. Located on West 42nd Street, the church has been in Times Square for 170 years.
Tracy, who believes the law “helps the police and helps the community,” works closely with the New York Police Department (NYPD). According to him, the police frequent his office multiple times a week to surveil his outdoor video footage. The church has a decades-long ongoing relationship with the NYPD. Reverend Peter Colapietro, the church’s former pastor from 1995-2013, was a chaplain for the NYPD.
About 20 blocks away in Chelsea, John Aaron works as a range officer at Westside Rifle & Pistol Range. Located on West 20th Street in Chelsea, Westside is Manhattan’s only commercial shooting range and gun club. It opened in 1965 and specializes in the sale of firearms, shooting practice, and assistance for those who wish to apply for a concealed carry permit.
Since the announcement of the law, Aaron attests that demand for assistance in obtaining such permits has “gone up through the roof.”
“Everyone, all of a sudden, now they want to carry a gun,” he said. Due to the influx in demand, he said Westside is “getting slammed” by “belligerent” phone calls.
For those who want to own and carry a handgun in the state, Aaron said the already strained process will only become more difficult. “Getting a permit takes two years,” Aaron said of the new law’s requirements, “but they want it now.” Obtaining the required 16 hours of classroom training and two hours of live-fire drills will require the services provided by Westside—services that are otherwise difficult to come by, requiring applicants to travel to another borough for such training. Additionally, applicants will be required to provide four character references and records of their social media accounts going back three years to the NYPD.
“Do you think your common criminal is going to care about your gun-free zone?” asked Darren Leung, owner of Westside. As a licensed a gun owner himself, he said, “I won’t go into these areas, because I know the law.” In the instance of an assault, he posed, “What if it was someone who’s trained… who would have ended the situation?… You don’t see shooters at police stations. You see them at gun-free zones.”