When embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams announced the trial rollout of gun-detecting machines at about 20 subway stations across the five boroughs earlier this year, he said he was impressed by the results of previous tests and predicted the use of the machines would soon become “the norm” across the subway system. 

As it turns out, the machines have been a bust. As ABC News reports, the machines failed to detect a single gun, but they did produce dozens of false positives. 

Through nearly 3,000 searches, the scanners turned up more than 118 false positives as well as 12 knives, police said, though they declined to say whether the positive hits referred to illegal blades or tools, such as pocket knives, that are allowed in the transit system.

Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat and tech enthusiast, announced plans to pilot the portable scanners, manufactured by Evolv, at a handful of subway stations this past summer in an effort to deter violence within the subway system.

The announcement drew skepticism from some riders and civil liberties groups, who argued it was neither feasible nor constitutional to scan millions of riders who enter the subway system through hundreds of entrances each day. Violent crime is rare in the system, though the announcement came on the back of two high-profile shooting incidents.

After Adams promised for months to make the results of the test public, the New York Police Department released a four-sentence statement Wednesday night noting it had performed 2,749 scans at 20 stations during the 30-day period. In total, there were 118 false positives — a rate of 4.29%.

It’s entirely possible that none of the nearly 3,000 riders who were subject to a scan were carrying a gun. In fact, given that the subway system is supposed to be a “gun-free zone”, and lawful concealed carry holders are still few and far between in the Big Apple more than two years after the Bruen decision, I’d say that’s actually a likely scenario. 

But even if Evolv can detect guns that are being carried (an open question, to be sure), it also produces a significant number of false positives. Adams said earlier this year that he wants the Evolv machines to be used at every subway station, and for every rider. According to the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which oversees the subway system, there are about 3.6 million riders on weekdays. A 4.29% false positive rate would equate to more than 150,000 false positives every day. That’s utterly insane, and completely unworkable. 

The bigger issue, of course, is that New York City’s public transportation shouldn’t be “gun-free zones” to begin with. It’s the primary way millions of New Yorkers navigate the city during the course of their daily routine, and preventing lawful concealed carry on buses and trains means countless residents are unable to lawfully exercise their right to bear arms, even if they have a valid carry permit. 

Now that NYC’s subway scanners have proved to a bust, it’s the perfect time for the city to revisit its designation of public transit as a “sensitive place”. I know that won’t happen, but if criminals are still bringing weapons onto trains and buses, the growing number of legally armed citizens should at least be able to do the same without fear of a felony charge and several years in prison.