The brutal stabbing murder of a New York poet Monday night, caught on a security video, underscores the difference in gun laws, and perhaps cultural philosophy, between east and west, and liberal versus conservative in a nation where the divide is rapidly widening with no change in sight.
The death of 32-year-old Ryan Carson on a Brooklyn sidewalk was, as can be seen in the video footage obtained by the New York Post, sudden, brutal and one more manifestation of an environment where people unable to defend themselves are left to the mercy of criminals and crazy people, who have no mercy.
Had a similar attack occurred in some western city, the knife-wielding killer might have made what Massad Ayoob calls a “fatal error in the victim selection process.” An armed citizen—someone not prohibited from carrying a defensive sidearm by restrictive gun laws—could have fought back with terminal results.
In the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court Bruen ruling, striking down the Empire State’s concealed carry law, New York officials scrambled to make it even more difficult for law-abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms for their personal safety.
New York homicides are actually down, but they still far exceed what is happening about 3,000 miles to the west, in Seattle, where the city has lost an estimated 600 police officers over the past three years, homicides are on track to set a new record, but tens of thousands of people are legally licensed to carry guns. The city cannot establish “sensitive areas” where even lawful concealed carry is prohibited because of Washington’s long-standing firearms preemption law, which those same officials have been trying to get repealed almost since it became effective about 40 years ago.
Recent data from the Washington Department of Licensing shows the Evergreen State with 696,540 active concealed pistol licenses, a number which would give East Coast Democrats heartburn. Almost one-in-six of those are held by residents of King County (111,332), which encompasses Seattle. There have been about 65 murders in the city this year, and with about three months remaining, that number will climb. Homicides are tracked by a site on “X” (formerly Twitter) called “Seattle Homicides.” The site is not connected to the Seattle Police Department.
Incredibly, city officials would love to disarm these honest citizens—who are not committing the crimes—but state law and the state constitution prevent that from happening.
However, cultural divisions are evident. After a federal judge in Spokane rejected a request for preliminary injunction against the state’s ban on so-called “large capacity magazines,” a different federal judge in California declared that state’s nearly identical ban unconstitutional. Judge Mary K. Dimke in Spokane is a Joe Biden appointee, while Judge Roger Benitez in San Diego is as George W. Bush appointee. Scenarios such as this are why Second Amendment advocates continually remind people “elections matter.”
The Second Amendment Foundation is also challenging Washington’s magazine ban, in a different federal court before a different judge. Just days ago, SAF filed a response brief in its challenge of the magazine ban, after declaring the Benitez ruling in California could have a far-reaching impact on such bans.
Because of the conflict between the Dimke ruling and the Benitez decision, there will doubtless be a confrontation between the two rulings at the Ninth U.S. Circuit of Appeals in San Francisco. From there, watch the magazine ban case head to the U.S. Supreme Court.
What this situation illustrates beyond anything else is the conflict between liberal and conservative judges and sets the stage for a high court confrontation.
This cultural division will not likely be solved by any Supreme Court decision, especially in 2024, when political campaigns will undoubtedly involve gun politics. As we have recently observed, politicians and lower court judges would likely ignore, or at least dance around such a ruling by whatever tortured logic they can muster.
And this brings us back around to Seattle, where Mike Solan, head of the Seattle Police officers Guild, told KOMO News back in July, “The bottom line is we don’t have enough cops based upon the workload that we are being asked to do, and cops are tired.” That was more than two months ago, and the situation has not improved. However, the number of active CPLs has gone up, suggesting the citizens understand the situation, and are taking more responsibility for their personal safety.
At the end of July, King County reported 110,646 active licenses. Now there are hundreds more, as noted above. Roughly one-fourth of the CPLs in the county are held by women.
Concealed carry is rebounding across Washington state, following a summer-long slump which saw numbers drop from the high of 698,147 on March 31. The Evergreen State has been nudging toward 700,000 active licenses for more than a year, and this time the state might make it by Dec. 31.
Several issues will come together in 2024, for which the groundwork is presently being laid.
A solid court ruling striking down Washington’s magazine ban would be an embarrassment to Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is running for governor and has been boasting how he has been undefeated by the “gun lobby.” A separate ruling, striking the state’s ban on so-called “assault weapons” would be another defeat, just months before the gubernatorial election.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
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