The NYTimes reports today that there are more than 37,000 people licensed to have a handgun in the city. It's a small but substantial group which includes many prominent businessmen, city council members, celebrities, journalists, judges and lawyers. Among the most prominent names: Queens DA Richard Brown, actor Robert De Niro, radio host Don Imus, Donald Trump, actor Harvey Keitel, radio host Howard Stern, city council members Inez Dickens and Peter Koo, and Federal Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. As Johnson Jr noted soberly, "I was a special prosecutor. Sixteen years in narcotics. I didn't make a lot of people happy."
There are eight kinds of handgun licenses in New York, and the most common restricts owners from taking their guns out of their homes—but others allow license holders, including security guards, gun custodians and people who demonstrate a need for protection, to carry weapons with them. There are 41,164 handguns registered with the Police Department as of Jan. 14, which includes those owned by more than 2,400 people who live outside the city but have permission to bring their weapons into the city. Nearly 4,000 license holders, including those who have a “carry business,” “limited carry” or “special carry” license, can legally conceal their weapons. Among that group are Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, Fox News personality Sean Hannity, Stern, Imus, and Trump.
The Times noted that many lawyers, including David Breitbart, Yetta Kurland and Walter Mack, were annoyed to be named in their article on guns. Alexis Stewart, daughter of Martha Stewart and co-host of radio show “Whatever With Alexis and Jennifer,” who bought a .357 Magnum after 9/11, says she would gladly give up handguns if they were banned: “I don’t believe people should be allowed to have guns in America...Having a swimming pool is way more dangerous than having a gun."
