Bill de Blasio Blames NYC’s Surging Violence on Guns

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) blamed access to guns for the surging violence in the city during a Monday video address.

Following a weekend in which 35 people were shot, including a slain one-year-old boy, de Blasio lamented the number of guns in his city and in the U.S. as a whole.

He mentioned the deceased child’s name, Davell Gardner, Jr., and noted the vast number of possibilities and opportunities life could have delivered to him.

De Blasio then circled back to the shooting, saying, “This is not anything that we can allow in our city.”

He added, “It’s heartbreaking for so many reasons, and it begins with the fact that there’s just so many guns out there and that’s a New York tragedy and a national tragedy.”

New York City is one of the most gun-controlled locations in the U.S. It exists under the umbrella of the SAFE ACT, which was signed into law following the December 14, 2012, attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

The SAFE Act bans the sale of “assault weapons” and requires registration of such weapons in situations where they were owned prior to the law taking effect. The Act also requires the registration of ammunition, bans the purchase of magazines holding more than ten rounds, and instituted universal background checks for gun sales.

In addition to those controls, the process for getting a concealed carry permit for New York City is extremely difficult. Fox News reports that the process for getting a permit includes showing a “justifiable need” for one. Similar requirements exist in California and New Jersey.

Also, NYC’s permitting process is on a “May Issue” basis, which means the reviewing officer is the ultimate arbiter of whether an applicant gets a license.

Despite these restrictions, legal hurdles, and numerous other gun control measures, NYC is seeing a surge in gun crime.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.