New “Gun Free Zone” signs will be displayed at “every entry point” to Times Square in New York City beginning on Thursday, Sept. 1, officials said. The city has already begun placing some signs, new images show. The “gun free zone” designation comes from a law signed in July that limits where guns can be carried in public.
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On Tuesday, Reporter Glenn Schuck tweeted a video of city trucks driving around Times Square with electronic “Gun Free Zone” signs. The electronic displays also warned “licensed gun carriers and others” not to enter the area with a gun “unless otherwise specially authorized by law” or they could be charged with a felony.
“City DOT trucks driving around Times Square with electronic signs about concealed carry of guns. Permit or not .. they are not permitted in Times Square as of. Thursday. @NYPDnews @1010WINS @NYCMayor @GovKathyHochul,” he tweeted.
In July, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a new law restricting where gun owners can carry a concealed weapon. The gun control law established a list of “sensitive locations” – also known as a “Gun Free Zone” – where it is unlawful to carry a “firearm, rifle or shotgun,” even if an individual has a concealed carry permit.
During a New York City Council Committee on Public Safety hearing on Tuesday, Robert Barrows, leader of the New York Police Department’s legal operations, provided an example of the area’s new “Gun Free Zone” signs.
“Happening now in the City Council: New signs to be installed at “every entry point” to Times Square starting this Thursday, Sept. 1,” The New York Post’s Bernadette Hogan tweeted along with a photo of the sign.
The locations include:
- Houses of Worship
- Public Transportation
- Airports
- Entertainment venues
- Bars and restaurants that serve alcohol
- Times Square
- Polling sites
- Educational institutions
- Daycares, playgrounds and places where children gather
- Libraries
- All government buildings
- Courthouses
- Health and medical facilities
- Emergency shelters, including homeless, youth, or domestic violence centers
- Public demonstrations and rallies
Hochul’s restrictive gun control law and “Gun Free Zone” signage comes after the Supreme Court ruled that New York State was violating the Second Amendment by requiring concealed-carry license applicants to prove they have a worthy need to carry guns in public.
The law also forces concealed carry license applicants to provide a list of their social media accounts that they have operated for at least three years so the government can determine if the individual is “of good moral character,” which is defined as “having the essential character, temperament and judgment necessary to be entrusted with a weapon and to use it only in a manner that does not endanger oneself and others.”
