BELLEVUE, WA – A wild shooting incident in New York City’s Times Square demolishes any argument by Mayor Eric Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democrat lawmakers in Albany that their so-called “sensitive area” gun ban prevents violent crime, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.

New York police are searching for the armed suspect, who left a female shopper wounded and fired shots at responding officers. He was described as a Hispanic male between 15 and 20 years old. The law obviously didn’t prevent him from being armed, CCRKBA noted.

“So much for New York City’s ‘sensitive area’ blanket designation, which leaves honest citizens and merchants helpless in Times Square, and anywhere else such laws are in place,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “The problem in New York is that not all of the dangerous people are on the streets committing crime. Some of the danger is found in Albany, and in city hall, among people who write laws that leave honest citizens defenseless against criminal attack.

“You can’t get a license to keep a gun in a business located in a sensitive area, and even if you have a concealed carry license, you can’t legally carry a gun in Times Square or any other designated sensitive area,” he noted.

“I totally agree with Democrat politicians that violent crime committed with firearms is horrible,” Gottlieb continued. “I only wish they would stop passing laws that make it easier for people to be victimized by violent criminals that these same politicians keep putting back on the streets with their insane policies.”

CCRKBA criticized the “sensitive areas” law from the moment it was adopted. The Democrat majority in Albany created the current mess, trying to be too clever by half in an effort to get around the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the 2022 Bruen case, which struck down the state’s unconstitutional concealed carry law, Gottlieb said.

“Aside from the likelihood the perpetrator of the Times Square shooting is a juvenile who couldn’t legally carry a gun in the first place,” Gottlieb observed, “the entire incident underscores what is wrong with restgrictive gun control laws in New York and everywhere else. These laws only penalize and restrict law-abiding citizens, while criminals flagrantly ignore them. The rest of us understand this. We’re wondering why the politicians haven’t figured it out after all this time.”