NYC Gun Permit Corruption no Surprise

By Dean Weingarten

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)-
The New York City scandal of bribes being paid to obtain highly desired and irrationally restricted gun permits is something that few find unusual, exceptional or unlikely.  The entire practice of the unconstitutional gun permit scheme was conceived in corruption and has always been administered as a way of benefiting elites and corrupt officials.  People without connections or money lose their Constitutional rights.  From ap.org:

The New York investigation caught Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein, a volunteer safety patrol member in his Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, on tape bragging that he had obtained at least 150 licenses for people to carry guns by paying up to $6,000 in bribes for each weapon.

The bribes were covered by fees of $10,000 or more paid by clients who in turn saw their applications to carry a handgun approved in two months or less – compared to as long as a year in normal circumstances – while other clients saw their criminal histories ignored.

AP has long approved of keeping the common folk disarmed, so it is no surprise that they find the scandal that some people were able to obtain gun permits by paying $10,000 dollars to a “fixer”.  The real scandal is that no one should have to pay thousands of dollars to exercise a fundamental constitutional right.

The New York gun scandal has its foundation in the Sullivan Act, a product of the corrupt gangster “Big Tim Sullivan”.  “Big Tim” introduced the act to prevent his enforcers from being shot by the people they were extorting money from.

Permits have always been available to the well heeled and well connected.  It is no surprise that Donald Trump and two of his children have coveted New York City pistol permits.  The surprise is that the Trumps desire that the right to have them be extended to all, as the Constitution requires. From the New York Post:

Sullivan knew the gangs would flout the law, but appearances were more important than results. Young toughs took to sewing the pockets of their coats shut, so that cops couldn’t plant firearms on them, and many gangsters stashed their weapons inside their girlfriends’ “bird cages” — wire-mesh fashion contraptions around which women would wind their hair.

Ordinary citizens, on the other hand, were disarmed, which solved another problem: Gangsters had been bitterly complaining to Tammany that their victims sometimes shot back at them.

So gang violence didn’t drop under the Sullivan Act — and really took off after the passage of Prohibition in 1920. Spectacular gangland rubouts — like the 1932 machine-gunning of “Mad Dog” Coll in a drugstore phone booth on 23rd Street — became the norm.

New York politicos have their heavily armed guards.  They have no trouble obtaining permits if they desire them.  But they want to be sure that the people who pay their salaries and who are victims of their corruption, are not armed.

I do not expect New York City to correct the inherent corruption in the Sullivan Act.  I do not expect NYC to reform how police bureaucrats use petty administrative  obstacles to prevent nearly everyone in the city from exercising one of the Constitution’s most fundamental rights.

New York has specialized in importing new immigrants and teaching them that corruption in the city is a way of life that cannot be fought.  It is not hard to do.  Most of them come from places with even more corruption and less freedom than New York City.  The percentage of foreign born residents in New York City at the 2010 census was 37%.  New York City residents quickly learn that the Second Amendment does not apply in New York City.

John  Stossel Tries to Get a Gun Permit Video

In most of the United States, carrying a concealed weapon requires no permit or a permit that is easily obtained. It may take a by day’s training and a fee that costs less than a day’s minimum wage.  Those places suffer no more or less crime than New York.  People who take the trouble to obtain a permit are exceptionally peaceful and responsible.  Those with violent histories are already prohibited from possessing firearms by national law, with local variations across the nation.

It is unlikely that New York City residents will be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights anytime soon.  The history of corruption is too strong.  But it will happen eventually.  The rest of the country, accustomed to more freedom, will not put up with being treated as a lesser citizen when they visit NYC.

Some fans of big government have contended that corruption is necessary for big cities to “work”.  It is a nonsensical argument.  There are a number of cities around the world that are known for fair business practices and a lack of corruption.  Consider London, Geneva, Singapore, Copenhagen.  All are run effectively without significant corruption.  Big cities are known for corruption.  They do not have to be corrupt.

Digital recordings make police and official corruption harder to conceal.  Technology and time are on the side of the Second Amendment.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

Link to Gun Watch

About Dean Weingarten;

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.