It is easier to rob a bank than it is to legally own a firearm to stop a crime in New York City, proving that thugs thrive where law-abiding gun owners are scarce, said Alan M. Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF).
“Bank robberies have tripled in the last three years,” Gottlieb said, “and in many cases, the robbers aren’t even using guns. They just stroll into a bank, hand the teller a note, and walk out with the loot.
“You can’t smoke in a bar, cabbies can’t hold cell phones while they drive, dogs can’t be unleashed, and average law-abiding citizens can hardly own, much less carry, guns for personal protection, but any outlaw looking for an easy score can pick a bank and rob it almost on a whim,” Gottlieb added. “Because it’s unlikely he’ll encounter any armed resistance, he’s pretty much got long-term job security, at least until he gets caught.”
Gottlieb said the situation in New York City is “a text book example” of what happens in an environment where crooks have greater freedom to commit crime than honest citizens have in defending themselves from it.
“The past year in New York has seen at least two outrageous cases where citizens were hounded for defending their homes and families against criminals,” Gottlieb recalled. “Trouble began for these would-be victims because they used unlicensed handguns. Yet one outlaw, Darryl Alexander, was able to plead guilty to grand larceny after robbing the same bank three times in seven months.
“Police Commissioner Ray Kelly threatened to publicize the names of banks that lack security features recommended by his department,” Gottlieb noted. “In a city where citizens are prosecuted for defending themselves with guns, maybe Kelly should be prosecuted as an accessory to a robbery at any of those banks, if they are held up. After all, a system as fouled up as New York’s ought to be fouled up for everybody.”