NYPD gun permit delays spark fresh bribery allegations
NYPD gun permit applications are supposed to move within six months under New York law, but a Bearing Arms column by Tom Knighton raises a pointed question: are the delays plain incompetence, or is something more corrupt going on inside the License Division.
Snapshot
Knighton's piece builds on an Ammoland report alleging that some NYPD License Division officers are taking bribes just to process handgun license paperwork within the legal timeframe, rather than to approve otherwise questionable applicants. Knighton notes the License Division has a documented history of corruption, citing a CNN report from over a decade ago that quoted retired NYPD officer and Arbalest Quarrel co-founder Stephen L. D'Andrilli on how New York's restrictive licensing laws have fueled a black market around permits.
Key points
- The allegation: Ammoland reported anecdotal accounts of License officers accepting bribes simply to do the timely processing that state law already requires.
- Past precedent: CNN's decade-old reporting, via Stephen L. D'Andrilli, described New York's licensing system as restrictive enough to create a black market around permits.
- Knighton's reaction: He calls the idea of bribes for lawful compliance worse than pre-Bruen graft, since officers would now be charging to do their basic job.
- Evidence gap: Knighton acknowledges these remain allegations, with little proof likely to surface since bribe-payers won't admit a felony and non-payers face a he-said/she-said dynamic.
- Possible recourse: Knighton suggests the DOJ's Second Amendment Division could be the only realistic avenue for scrutiny.
Quick take
Knighton frames this as a rights-delayed-is-rights-denied problem, arguing that if bribery for routine compliance is real, it deserves serious consequences rather than a shrug.
Read the full story: bearingarms.com