Ghost guns are the bugbear of the moment, because only a lunatic would defend them. And because it is much easier, and far less controversial, to blame them for New York’s blood-spattered sidewalks than it would be to bring the full force of the law down on the core problem — the trigger-pullers.
There is no hoarier cliché in the American conversation than “guns don’t kill, people do.” But its depressing ubiquity doesn’t make it any less true.
Thus, no gun-violence policy is going to succeed if it isn’t focused as squarely on criminals as it is on weapons.
Mayor Adams seems to get this, sort of. He has undone a lot of the damage inflicted on the NYPD by his predecessor. Gun crime seems to have leveled off a bit — although it remains appallingly high compared to pre-pandemic levels, and the summertime-carnage season is rapidly approaching.
But even he seems caught up in the rhetoric of the moment. He’s constantly rattling on about ghost guns — and if his “end gun violence” tuxedo at the Met Gala the other night had a point, it was not aimed at the people who matter.
They would be the Albany establishment — Gov. Hochul and a legislative leadership responsible for the so-called “reforms” meant to lighten the burden on New York’s criminal class. And they persist in this mischief, despite poll after poll showing that crime is squarely atop the list of New Yorkers’ concerns.
Adams should exploit this.
He might ask Hochul — rhetorically if not face to face — if she’s comfortable with the fact that Edison Cruz was free to commit murder after three separate arrests on ghost-gun charges, with no significant sanctions in sight.
And if she’s not comfortable, what does she plan to do about it. Her answers, in an election year, should be instructive.
– Bob McManus in ‘Ghost Guns’ Can Cause Serious Harm, but Controversial Bail Reform Is Scarier for NYC
Source
It’s Easier to Blame ‘Ghost Guns’ in New York City Than to Put and Keep Criminals Behind Bars is written by Grace Stevens for www.thetruthaboutguns.com
