The dangers of big "blue" cities from a different perspective

 

Last week I warned (again) of the very real and growing dangers to be found in large "blue" cities, and urged readers to get out of them at once.  Now Francis Porretto brings his own perspective to bear on the dangers threatening his peaceful life in Long Island, New York.

Two new developments are calling into question whether any part of New York State will remain at all safe, especially for us old farts. The first is the state’s determination to strip New Yorkers of their right to keep and bear arms, in defiance of U.S. Supreme Court decisions ... But when combined with this initiative, it grows geometrically worse:

Hochul’s biggest proposal, the Housing Compact, is another misguided attack on local control and single-family zoning. It would compel each town and village in the New York City metro area to increase its housing stock to meet a uniform, state-imposed target and rezone for high-density housing — apartment buildings — within a half-mile of every Metropolitan Transportation Authority train stop.

Say goodbye to quaint downtowns lined with two-story buildings and older houses.

If a town fails to meet state targets, the compact will allow developers to build big in defiance of local zoning boards in almost all cases.

. . .

New York City’s suburbs, most emphatically including Long Island, are opposed to Hochul and her cronies by a large margin. Therefore, we must be compelled to bend the knee. The Housing Compact and the state’s attempt to destroy the right to keep and bear arms are aimed at precisely that.

With single family zoning abolished, large multi-unit dwellings would swiftly follow. With those would come greatly increased traffic, pressure on local infrastructure, and crime. Predators would inevitably multiply, for Long Island’s residents are far more affluent per capita than those of the City. We would suffer an explosion of crimes against persons and property, for New Yorkers are already deprived by law of most of the means of self-defense. It’s close to absolutely illegal for a private New Yorker to acquire a handgun, and the state is moving against previously legal rifles and shotguns as well.

I’ve written on this subject before. My opinions have not changed since then. Neither have the statistics about the frequency of crime in population-dense regions, where multi-family housing is prevalent. But today they’re “coming home” for me in a most unpleasant fashion. My desire to live out my life untroubled might be cross-cut by New York’s vampiric ruling class.

There's more at the link.

Nor is New York state's attack on firearms ownership an isolated affair.  Many "blue" states are pursuing similar objectives.  They can afford to, after all.  They have their own taxpayer funds to call upon to defend those measures in court.  Even if they lose every time, they have deep enough pockets to simply impose new measures and enforce them until they're overturned, and so on, and so on.  They'll make it as difficult and inconvenient as possible to buy and own weapons, knowing that those defending our Second Amendment rights have nowhere near as much money to make their case in court every time.  They'll do their best to bankrupt us in the process.

The federal government, under the Biden administration, is complicit in this process.  We learned this past week that the ATF is now using any violation of federal firearms licence requirements, no matter how trivial or inconsequential, to revoke those licenses and shut down the dealer(s) concerned.  It's no longer a matter of bringing dealers into compliance;  it's making sure their businesses are destroyed.  It's as bad as that.

Think of this from a practical perspective.  If there's no licensed firearms dealer near you, where are you going to buy a gun?  Private transactions can be mandated to go through a dealer, so that a background check on the purchaser can be performed.  That's already law in some jurisdictions - but if there's no dealer available, that short-circuits private sales.  Also, if you need ammunition or other supplies, what will you do if there's no local source for them?  Sure, you can order them by mail, but that's slower, and if you need the ammo in a hurry, that won't do.  Furthermore, some states have already made it illegal to buy ammunition in that way, or imposed onerous bureaucratic requirements on the process.  The same could happen in any "blue" state at any time, or even be imposed by the federal government for nebulous (and almost certainly spurious) "security reasons".

Friends, all that I said in my earlier article remains true.  I'll add this to it:  if you live in a city or state that's contemplating similar anti-gun measures, act now.  If you haven't got a firearm, or enough of them (i.e. one per adult family member, preferably one long gun and one handgun apiece at a minimum), get them now while you still can, and lay in a stash of ammunition while you're about it.  Firearms and ammunition are like parachutes.  If you need it, but don't have it, it's too late to go and get it!  They're not your best defense, of course - that would be moving to a safer place while the going's good - but it's a whole lot better than nothing.

One last point.  If you've built up your collection of firearms over time, think of what will happen to them when you die.  I've seen some collections thrown away for pennies on the dollar because those who inherited them didn't appreciate what they had, or didn't care.  Why not determine in advance who will get them, and spread them around as widely as possible to people who'll value them - and, if necessary, use them to defend themselves and their loved ones?  You could even do this before you die, by passing on to others guns you no longer use yourself.  In this way, you'll leave a legacy of greater security and self-sufficiency to the next generation.  I've been doing that for some time, and I'll continue to do so.  At the very least, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to equip others to stand on their own two feet.

Peter