New York City-Another Day, Another Murder
This morning (12/04/24) I read that United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson had been shot and killed while standing outside the New York Hilton Midtown hotel. New York City’s police commissioner stated that it was a “brazen, targeted attack”.
My initial thought was the report couldn’t possibly be true because the Sullivan Act, passed in 1911, has essentially made it illegal to have a handgun in New York City. Surely, with handgun possession being illegal (except for former police officers and anyone with connections) for over 100 years, no handgun crimes are committed within the city’s five boroughs.
Although gun control advocates would have you believe such a fairy tale, the reality, as demonstrated again by this morning’s shooting, is that gun control is ineffective at controlling crime. Its sole function is to make it difficult or impossible for law-abiding citizens to own guns.
Although misguided do-gooders created many gun control laws, others have a more devious origin. The ultimate irony of the Sullivan Act is that it was created to protect criminals, not law-abiding citizens. During the waning years of the 19th century. Irish immigrants and first-generation Irish Americans largely controlled “Tammany Hall”, the headquarters of the city’s corrupt Democratic party.
Like many of his Tammany Hall colleagues, Tim Sullivan turned to politics as a means of expanding the scope of his illegal activities. Concurrent with Sullivan’s rise to power, a wave of Italian immigrants, many of whom brought Mafia connections with them, flooded the city. Ethnic diversity being unheard of at the time, the reigning Irish/American criminals saw newly arrived Mafia types as competition, and the average Italian immigrant welcomed their newly arrived Italian counterparts into the fold. Instead, they saw the Mafia types as competition and the immigrant population as a field of victims as an additional source of potential victims.
The advent of Italian immigrants with guns seriously altered New York City’s criminal landscape. Instead of being able to run their illegal operations without challenge, Sullivan and his cronies had to confront the fact that an arduous day of racketeering would likely be interrupted by Italian competition or potential victims pulling guns to defend themselves.
Sullivan became a state senator and pushed through the Sullivan Act, a law that required gun owners to have permits while empowering local authorities to issue or deny gun ownership permits at their own discretion Although the law is applicable throughout the state, New York City has applied it in its most restrictive form to little effect.
Criminals have historically ignored the Sullivan Act (surprise) and continue to do so. According to New York Police Department statistics, through the first 48 weeks of 2024, NYC has had 1,026 shooting victims. That compares to 1,063 for the same period in 2023. During that same 2024 time frame, there were 1,601 rapes, 15,241 robberies, 27,174 felony assaults,11,912 burglaries and 44,855 cases of grand larcenies. Statistics don’t list the number of times guns were present but not fired during the commission of various crimes. But it's reasonable to assume that guns were used to intimidate victims during a high percentage of most crimes; criminals always have guns and gun control laws do not change that.
New York City isn’t unique as a city with strict gun laws and high crime rates. During the first 48 weeks of 2024, Chicago Police Department statistics list 2,161 shooting incidents and 533 murders. Yet when you dig into crime data, oppressive gun control laws or the lack thereof have nothing to do with the amount of gun-related crime committed in urban areas. That’s because crime is a cultural issue, not a gun control issue.
Even in cities that make the top 10 list for high crime rates, the entire city isn’t a killing field. That distinction is earned only by individual neighborhoods. According to data compiled by the Property Club, “On average, Chicago is about 67% more dangerous than the US average. Both violent and property crimes are a problem in the city, with a high incidence of gun violence.” Yet the high rate of violent crime occurs in only 12 of Chicago’s 178 official neighborhoods.
Similarly in New York City with 339 official neighborhoods, The Property Club has labeled Hunts Point in the Bronx (where your chances of being a victim are 1 in 22) as the most dangerous neighborhood in the city and identified 11 other neighborhoods where crime rates are exponentially higher than in other parts of the city.
The murder of Brian Thompson will ultimately be added to the city’s crime database, but it will stand apart from the other murders listed in the 2024 database. It wasn’t committed in a high crime area nor was it random. But this murder does have one thing in common with those committed in the city’s high-crime neighborhoods. It was not prevented by a gun control ordinance that has been on the books for over 100 years.
Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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With the murder of Brian Thompson did anyone hear a clamor for more or stronger gun control? Almost as if the act was justified?!
Apologies for being late to the party.
This. "Its sole function is to make it difficult or impossible for law-abiding citizens to own guns."
Well-stated and historically supported. Strikes me as almost tautological. Reminds me of a favorite quote of mine...
"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants."
~ Cesare Beccaria, Legal Theorist (1738 - 1794)
I find it fascinating, if unsurprising, that the Sullivan Act has roots in mob culture. Many similar observations can be made about the history of gun control in general. I have argued elsewhere that the roots of Southern gun control lie in the desire of racists to make sure black folks could not defend themselves. Regardless, treating gun control as if it provided a solution is the same type of symptom-focus prevalent in our society in other realms, such as healthcare. The gun is a "how", but the problem is the "why." Treat that, and the availability and/or prevalence of firearms becomes irrelevant. At least that's my current view.