Officials in New York City announced over the weekend that, so far this year, the NYPD has seized 3,000 “illegal” guns, citing those efforts as part of the reason for a significant drop in violent crime in the five boroughs.
The NYPD says that the first six months of 2025 saw the lowest number of shootings in the city’s history, with 397 shooting victims and 337 shooting incidents reported between January 1 and June 30.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the effort, which has led to 22,700 gun seizures since the start of the Adams administration, involves officers across the department.
“We seize them during case takedowns, we seize them in the course of arrests, we seize them when our officers run into gunfire on the streets,” she said at a press conference in the Bronx. “Getting guns off the street is the most dangerous work that our officers do.”
Some of the least dangerous work that the NYPD does is process gun permits; both the piece of paper required to keep and a gun in the home and the permit to carry that’s needed to bear arms on city streets.
So how many permits has the department’s Licensing Bureau issued this year? I sent a request to the NYPD’s public affairs office to see if they’re giving any specific numbers, and I’m waiting to see if I hear anything back. At least as of March of 2024, the department is keeping that information to itself, though it’s been a little more forthcoming about the number of applications it’s received.
According to a Spectrum News report earlier this year, the Licensing Division took in 888 applications from January 1 to February 4. That’s actually a tad higher than last year’s monthly average of 786 permits a month (9,432 applications in all). Assuming the department has received an average of 800 permit applications each month (a pretty conservative estimate), that’s more than 5,000 New Yorkers who’ve submitted their paperwork since the start of 2025.
It’s fair to assume that the number of permit applications this year is outpacing the number of guns seized, but we can’t be sure that’s true of the number of applications that have been approved. That same Spectrum News report notes that applicants face lengthy delays once their paperwork has been submitted.
Hiring a lawyer has become an unofficial part of the process in New York.
Other applicants who filed court petitions included their emails to the NYPD License Division
“I’ve tried to get an update through the NYPD here by email, various phone numbers, and no one responds or gets back to me,” one applicant wrote.
“I have not received any communication from an investigator. I am now in the 11th month,” another applicant wrote.
Another applicant wrote, “It has been many months and I have not heard back from the office nor have I received any updated email. I’ve been waiting patiently.”
Meanwhile, emails in the court record show how NYPD license staff — led by Inspector Hugh Bogle — respond.
“Each investigator has a large quantity of applications,” one investigator wrote.
Even though the NYPD is slow-walking the issuance of permits, the number of individuals who are licensed to carry in New York City is undoubtably higher than what it was when the city and state’s “may issue” permitting scheme was struck down as an unconstitutional violation of our Second Amendment rights three years ago.
More people lawfully carrying guns hasn’t led to a spike in violent crime, despite predictions from local politicians and gun control activists. To the contrary; according to Tisch the city is seeing record low levels of shootings, and the city is safer than it’s been in years.
Unfortunately, it may very well be the case that the number of “illegal” gun seized this year is higher than the number of city residents who’ve received permission to exercise their right to bear arms in self-defense. In fact, unless things have changed dramatically within the Licensing Bureau that’s almost certainly the case. In July, 2023 the website TheCity reported that of the nearly 5,000 applications submitted to the NYPD in the last six months of 2022, just 503 had been approved. The approval rate would have had to dramatically improve in order for the department to have issued more than 3,000 permits this year, and there’s no sign at all that’s the case.
It’s clear that more people exercising their right to carry hasn’t made NYC a more dangerous place. It’s also evident that the city is routinely failing to follow the law by issuing permits within six months of receiving an application. Hiring an attorney in order to exercise a constitutionally protected right shouldn’t have to be a part of the licensing process, unofficial or not. Tisch can brag all she wants about the number of guns taken off the street, but she also needs to fess up to the number of New Yorkers who are being denied their right to carry thanks to the NYPD’s unconscionable delays.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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