Nassau County (on Long Island, just across from New York City) executive Bruce Blakeman didn’t hold back today when announcing that 200 new gun permit applications since the state’s strict new gun law making it nearly impossible to legally carry concealed. He called it arbitrary and capricious, referencing the standard test of a law under judicial review of the same name. In essence, the phrase suggests the law in question is baseless or despotic in nature, or a sudden turn of mind without apparent motive.
The gun law itself (championed by NY Governor Hochul) enacts, among other onerous restrictions, a ban on otherwise legally carrying citizens from bringing their gun into still poorly defined and nebulous “sensitive areas” like churches, and schools. The law only went into effect a month ago, on September 4, but in the mere 30 days since, 200 people have submitted applications for gun permits. The county has only had 1350 permit applications so far this year, which means September saw permit applications rise by over 33%.
Mr. Blakeman went on to promise that until litigation already in progress has rightfully determined this new gun law unconstitutional, which he believes it is, he and law enforcement will do their best to work within the legal framework given to them to serve the citizens of Nassau county. He goes on to explain that the law does nothing to make people safer, and simply makes law abiding citizens more likely to unintentionally break the law.
