If the NYPD can help it, Trump will not be able to "stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody," as he once speculated, after his guilty conviction in the hush-money case.Bob Daemmrich/ZUMA
Remember when Trump, as the Republican frontrunner in the 2016 election, claimed that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and he wouldn’t lose voters?
Well, that bold assertion, which has proven somewhat true among his devout base, may run into some technical issues in New York, where the police department is trying to make it impossible for Trump to even carry a firearm following his guilty conviction in his hush-money case, according to a Wednesday report from CNN.
Citing an anonymous senior police official, CNN reports that the NYPD is trying to revoke Trump’s license to carry a concealed weapon, a move stemming from a federal law barring people with felony convictions from possessing firearms. (New York and Florida also have laws outlawing people with felonies from possessing a gun.)
Trump reportedly has three pistols, two of which were reportedly handed over to the NYPD in March 2023 when he was indicted on criminal charges in the hush-money case. Though his third gun was reportedly legally transferred to Florida at the time, possession of it in the Sunshine State would still be illegal now that Trump is a convicted felon. All of which is to say that if Trump does still have that a gun somewhere within the gilded walls of Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach resort, or any of his other homes… he could be in violation of multiple laws and committing a federal crime, CNN reports.
Spokespeople for the NYPD and the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to questions from Mother Jones on Thursday.
Trump has had the concealed carry license from the NYPD for more than a decade, CNN reports, citing multiple law enforcement sources. If the NYPD does move to revoke his license following an investigation by its Legal Bureau, Trump could challenge it, according to the report.
This latest reported news highlights just one of the many ways that Trump’s life will change now that he has been convicted of a felony—or, as my colleague David Corn put it, now that he’s lost a big battle in his lifelong war against accountability. In addition to losing his concealed carry permit, Trump may be unable to visit 38 countries that bar entry to people convicted of felonies. He may also be unable to vote in the November election if he’s sentenced to jail time and incarcerated on voting day.
So while Trump’s incendiary statement bragging of his ability to murder people in public in New York City and still retain voters might have been true for his most rabid fans, the difference now is that Trump has since been subjected to the discipline of the justice system—and, if it turns out he’s hoarding that third pistol at Mar-a-Lago, he may face it once more.
